5 Things to Remember When Making a Political Comedy

By Cole Abaius, Film School Rejects. Posted April 30, 2008.

We aren't used to laughing at our political movies. And who would blame us? With the police state we live in and the Great Depression of 2009 looming over our heads, the cost of buying a permit to laugh is getting more and more expensive. So it's easy to see why most movies involving politicians are dramas or, of course, horror films.

In fact, most politically charged movies don't focus on politicians themselves. They focus on broad topics like crumbling diplomatic relations, zombie invasions or crumbling diplomatic relations with zombies.

So, in honor of Charlie Wilson's War coming out on DVD today, we're celebrating the rare beast that is the successful political comedy and the essentials that make it work.

If you happen to be making a movie about politicians, here are a few things to remember:

1. Politicians Love Talking

If Frank Capra's brilliant Mr. Smith Goes to Washington teaches us anything, it's that every major problem can be solved forever by talking for a long period of time. Classic everyman Jimmy Stewart provides a heart and soul for Jefferson Smith, and we get to laugh at his naive blunders in politicking right up until we realize he's serious about fixing the system. And how does he propose to fix the world? By reading the Constitution to the Senate one-hundred and eighteen times, followed by his grandmother's fried chicken recipe and the Magna Carta. This film is a classic because the jokes are still fresh. It appears as if we're actually watching a non-politician when, in fact, Smith turns out to be the most verbose politico of them all, beating the establishment at its own narcissistic game.

2. Politicians are Egomaniacs

Representative Charlie Wilson is delightfully unethical. In Charlie Wilson's War, Tom Hanks provides this character with enough charm to be disarming, but you get the idea that after everyone else leaves a room, Wilson is probably still flirting with himself and pretending to be interviewed. His involvement with ending the Soviet conflict in Afghanistan is more about his own ego than saving countless lives. That's why we love him. Because the only realistic way he would have gotten interested in Afghanistan is if it had been wearing a miniskirt and sported C-cups. He's hilarious because he quips about not wanting to join the ethics committee since he's against the issue, but likable because he seems, underneath it all, to still have some form of a human heart. Like most politicians, he stumbles into an important issue like a child wandering into an ammunitions bunker and somehow avoids being blown up. Of course, Charlie Wilson, like the best of them, mugs for the camera the entire time. Who wouldn't vote for this guy?

3. Politicians are Fake

As mentioned before, most political comedies don't focus on politicians since politicians are not funny. They're old, stuffy white oppressors who we allow to kiss our babies and give themselves raises. They aren't fun to talk to because they always want to bring up the Stamp Act or Vietnam or some other depressingly unfunny thing from the past. Their hearts are also made of used mud. To sidestep this problem, the movie Dave focuses on a small town politician who happens to look and sound exactly like the current president. When the panderingly fake President is incapacitated by a heart attack, his cabinet calls on Kevin Kline's Dave to be a fake, replacement President, and the fake-fake-President turns out to be very real. Dave is funny in the standard fish-out-of-water way, but the stakes are much higher because the water happens to be the White House. We also get an entire movie of what would happen if the President actually, deeply cared about his citizenry. Thus, by avoiding realism, this movie rises to the top as a successful comedy.

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