Close to the end of "Primary Colors," the film becomes bogged down. It seems to almost stop because of it's cumbersome plot twists. It is easy to mistake this for poor filmmaking; It isn't. Director Mike Nichols simply allows the audience to experience the overwhelming struggle and conflicts of morality that the characters are going through. Like a good filmmaker, he takes us there. We're down in the trenches going through the paradoxes and the disappoints with the characters. We experience all of it. And it's taxing.

The film is based on a novel that is the thinly veiled story of Bill Clinton's first run for office in 1992. Originally attributed to Anonymous, the novel is now acknowledged to have been written by Joe Klien. Here Clinton and Hillary are called Jack and Susan Stanton, and played by John Travolta and Emma Thompson. And while many of the other staffers on the election bid are depicted, the only real recognizable ones to me were Billy Bob Thorton as James Carville and Diane Ladd, in a small role as Clinton's mother Virginia. These recognizable roles are accented by the performances of Adrian Lester as a black campaign manager whose grandfather was a civil rights leader, Maura Tierny (TV's "Newsradio") as a female staffer, Kathy Bates as a campaign "dustbuster" who works as sort of a private investigator and who has spent some time in a mental institution, and Larry Hagman as another Democratic forerunner in the primary.

Travolta is great and his resemblance to Clinton is a little too close for comfort. Although the actor claims to have only borrowed some mannerisms from the president, he really does a exacting portrayal here. He comes close to caricature at times. But Travolta is so able to bring us the man behind the myth, that we remember why we liked the real president as a candidate to begin with. And when we get to go into areas where we were never allowed in reality, it is even better. To see the president behind closed doors, to hear him swear, to see him as a real live human person only makes us like him more. The same is true for Thompson as Hillary. The film portrays her as a jilted woman and a bitch as others have claimed. But Thompson's performance of the real woman, up close and personal, shows the truth and the frailty behind the public facade. Thompson shows us both of these sides of a character that is complex and difficult to understand. But Thompson doesn't opt for a close resemblance to her real life inspiration. She opts for more of a character in the vein of her stimulus than verisimilitude. And if there is any complaint about the film, it's that we don't get to focus on her as much as Travolta.

The rest of the cast is pretty awesome as well with Bates a particular standout. Her verbose and brassy broad takes us through the emotional rainbow allowing us great humor followed by awesome sorrow. It's a remarkable performance and one that actually holds the crux of the plot and theme. Most importantly, all of this is watched by the wide-eyed Lester who truly works wonders as our tourguide. Although there is some trepidation at first, we know he will fall easily into his surrounding and, luckily, the film wastes no time in showing this. Meanwhile, Thorton is marvelous as a good ole boy who is also a mastermind political strategist. This dichotomy adds much humor to the proceedings and it is easy to see his similarity to his inspiration. Tierny treads on some new ground easily without opting for comedy while Hagman reaches new heights as an ageing politico who seems a challenger to Travolta's seemingly impending victory. His quiet and demure character gives Hagman a chance to bring us a character that is important to the plot even if given only a few moments in the spotlight. And Hagman makes every moment of his on screen time count for something. His appearance at a rally in front of a large crowd is an awesome moment and one that begs for the integrity and the reflection that the theme of the film also calls for. Hagman's turn is a remarkable performance from an actor who had seemed to have run out of them.

Nichols again teams with former comedy partner Elaine May and the partnership evokes much to enjoy. Her script isn't afraid to pull some serious punches and, although I haven't read the source novel, it seems to have the ability to bring us the subtle nuances and minor moments of an epic story that unfold like an on-screen novel. Although, again, the film seems to become much too weighty and "heavy" towards it's end, the film seems to have no other place to go. When one thinks of the complexities of this multi-character story, it's easy to see how simple and lucid May's script makes it all seem. Nichols, meanwhile, doesn't really use any fancy cinematics or gimmicky tricks here. Instead, he brings us the story as simply as the script does and allows his actors to do their fantastic work. It's as if he turned on the camera and simple let it catch all the magic. The best part of the film is how it begins and ends on the same note.

"Primary Colors" makes us long for the Bill Clinton we elected. The man who could spend hours talking to people about their troubles. There is an awesome sequence in the film where Lester looks out the window during a rather tumultuous moment to see a shining donut stand in the mist outdoors and Travolta's Stanton inside, enraptured in a conversation with the attendant. It's a magical moment in the film. And Nichols captures it as easily as he captures the hotel room meetings, the backyard barbecues and the arena rallies. "Primary Colors" takes us inside the backrooms and shows us the politics that work there. It makes us hunger for a world where politicians are real men and women who truly care. It makes us hunger for that hopefulness that we had when Clinton came into office. It makes us realize how silly and pointless the stories of his infidelities truly are and makes us wish that the world would focus more on truth and less on, well, politics.

Note:

With cameos by Larry King and Bill Mahr, and a small humorous role played by Rob Reiner.

Music by Ry Cooder. Songs by Willie Nelson, Olivia Newton-John, and Orleans. The song "Good Ole Boys Like Me" by Don Williams is quoted and "You Are My Sunshine" is sang several times by the cast and referenced in the film as a song "written by a southern governor" (Jimmie Davis).

A clip from "Shane" is shown playing on TV (oddly in black and white at one point, then in color).

Review written in 1998

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