A television comedian runs for president and somehow manages to win the presidential election in Barry Levinson’s Man of the Year.

A comedian running for president and winning seems absurd, no? Ask Ukraine and Guatemala! It’s hard to believe that this was the plot of a 2006 film but here we are. Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams) originally laughs off an audience question about running for president but soon finds he has lots of support. It’s up there with the many people who wanted Jon Stewart running for president back in the day. As we all know, Stephen Colbert ran for president in his home state of South Carolina in 2008. But anyway, Dobbs surprisingly gets enough support to get on the ballot in 13 states and in the presidential debate with President Kellogg (David Nichols) and Senator Mills (David Ferry).

Dobbs acts like anything but a comedian while on the campaign trail. It’s only during the debate when the gloves come off and he goes back into comedy mode. Manager Jack Menken (Christopher Walken) and producer Eddie Langston (Lewis Black) are among those in his circle suggesting he shift back to comedy. It’s a genius to Levinson’s writing and Williams’ delivery but Dobbs crushes the debate. I mean, he is addressing serious issues while getting laughs from the crowd. Debate moderator Faith Daniels, who appears as herself, loses complete control.

As James Carville notes after the debate:

“This wasn’t just funny in the abstract, it was very pointed and very to the point. He was making political points through his comedy, and it was incredible entertainment. How good the politics is, we’re gonna have to wait and see.”

This version of Dobbs continues throughout the rest of the campaign. It’s Williams at his comedic finest during montage of stops on the campaign trail. Despite his climb upwards in the polls, Dobbs remains behind both Kellogg and Mills.

On the other side of the coin is Eleanor Green (Laura Linney, who works for Delacroy. The voting machine company is providing all the machines for the upcoming presidential election. She notices a glitch in the system and sends an email to James Hemmings (Rick Roberts), only to be ignored after he deletes the email. As for election, the glitch plays out as Green predicted: Kellogg wins in every state except for those where Dobbs is on the ballot. Absurd as it seemed at the time, Dobbs wins in all 13 states, which is enough to defeat Kellogg and win the presidency. Green confronts Hemmings, only to be chewed out by Alan Stewart (Jeff Goldblum) in a monologue:

“Perception of legitimacy is more important than legitimacy itself. That’s – the greater truth. Don’t f*** with our democracy. Don’t undermine our way of life. You want to know what the heart and soul is of every American? They believe that their vote counts. Now, you wanna tell them that’s not true?”

Next thing you know, someone attacks Eleanor and drugs her. Whether anyone will believe her is a different story. Delacroy executives will do whatever it takes to cover up the irregularities in their system.

This is where the film’s tone shifts from comedy to a mix of romance and thrills. The shift almost certainly explains why the film did not so well at the time. Of course, who could have predicted Donald Trump running for president a decade later. Certainly not me. He’s not a comedian nor is he coherent when talking but he somehow managed to draw appeal from just enough people in enough states to win in November 2016. People would eventually come to see what he represented and voted him out in 2020. He would not accept results and incited a seditious insurrection against American democracy. But I digress. Anyway, Eleanor confronts President-elect Dobbs at a party in Washington. It results in something of a fling between Eleanor and Dobbs but the glitch does not come up until Thanksgiving. Knowing how close they’re getting, Delacroy shifts into high gear.

Dobbs goes forward with an appearance on Saturday Night Live‘s Weekend Update with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. What originally starts on script ends up going way off book when Dobbs announces what Eleanor discovered. A new election is ordered but Dobbs won’t have any part of it. He had his fun in the sun, so to speak, and goes back to doing what he does best: satirizing the news. Eleanor joins him for the ride. Kellogg wins the election while the Delacroy executives get what’s coming.

Man of the Year had the potential to be one of the all-time comedy masterpieces had it not shifted tones during the film’s second hour. Despite the shift, Williams, Walken, Black, and Linney are able to elevate the film where they can. I mean, it’s Robin Williams for Pete’s sake! When the film is in comedy mode, Williams does what he does best. That’s not to say that he doesn’t get a chance to display his range because we do see his serious side in Dobbs’s concern or Eleanor.

What nobody could have predicted in 2006 was the eventual election of comedians in both Guatemala and Ukraine. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy is one of the most recognizable names on the planet right now. Of course, some of this is probably because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Before becoming Ukraine’s president, he previously voiced Paddington Bear for the 2014 release of Paddington in Ukraine.

Conspiracy theories are not new. There’s always one thing or another that pops up around election time. More often than not, it’s usually a disinformation campaign to influence the election. We saw the Russian attempts in 2016 and we’re seeing the attempts by both Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran right now. These attempts are making it harder for voters to realize what is true and what is disinformation. One would expect that American voters are better than falling for disinformation but sadly, this is not always the case. That being said, the idea of a computer voter system having a glitch–a faulty program, not fraud–and showing the wrong results is why I will forever champion paper ballots.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment previously released the film on Blu-ray in 2020. The new Shout! Studios Blu-ray release does not contain any of the previous bonus content so the new release is a missed opportunity. If you really want to own the film, go ahead but sans any bonus content, my recommendation is just to watch on home video.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Barry Levinson
CAST: Robin Williams, Christopher Walken, Laura Linney, Jeff Goldblum, Lewis Black

Universal Pictures released Man of the Year in theaters on October 13, 2006. Grade: 3.5/5

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