Best movie ever!

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Primary Colors (1998): Dir: Mike Nichols / Cast: John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Adrian Lester, Maura Tierney, Kathy Bates: Political comedy that analyzes character. John Travolta runs for Governor with his Bill Clinton accent with Emma Thompson at his side as his supportive wife. Adrian Lester is brought in but he has difficulties in the system and in belief in Travolta. Maura Tierney plays his media consultant who provides Travolta with media advice. Kathy Bates chews scenery as a political fixer who unleashes interesting methods of getting the truth heard. Well written and directed by Mike Nichols with insight. He often deals with controversial or political issues in his films but here he highlights effectively with the humour. He previously made The Graduate and Who Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Travolta balances humour and drama effectively, which adds to his accent. Thompson is superb in her struggle to bring it down to earth. Lester is well cast as a man seeking political honesty. Tierney steals her moments as the consultant. Kathy Bates steals every scene she is in as someone assigned to counter attack in their favour and it results in some of the funniest moments. Nichols fills the film with a terrific ensemble where everyone is a steal. It is a film about human decency, which is unfortunately becoming more rare in our society, and it succeeds greatly with flying colours. Score: 10 / 10

Primary Colors (1998)This starts off really great, and gets the flavor of a real campaign, without too much Hollywood hype (campaigns have their own kind of falseness, which is played up here). John Travolta not only hits it just right as a feeling and determined candidate, he also nails Bill Clinton pretty well, too. I don't suppose Emma Thompson is supposed to match Hillary quite as well, but she's a perfect running mate, and throw in Billy Bob (Thornton) as a sidekick and you have a really solid working trio. But it doesn't quite keep the focus or momentum, or honesty, of the opening scenes. Or humor, sometimes. (This is a comedy, by the way, and director Mike Nichols knows comedy, as does his screenwriter and longtime collaborator, Elaine May. They used to do stand up comedy together in the 1950s!) What begins as a kind of revelation and interior exploration digresses into more and more clichés of what campaigns do, and what they have to do (sleaze wise) to succeed. We know this stuff. It isn't the facts that enchant us, it's the exceptions to the facts, and it's the nuances between them. It never quite flags, though twenty minutes less screen time sounded good by the end. And Travolta and Thompson hold up their roles consistently.The real saving grace in the second half is the bursting on the scene of Kathy Bates, who is herself at her best. It might be the best Kathy Bates Kathy Bates has ever done, including some impassioned, tearful stuff. The opposing candidate is remarkably convincing--you even want to vote for him--played by Larry Hagman. On the other hand, the young clerk and campaign manager Adrian Lester is a bit too restrained and dull to make him even noticeable.Nichols is best when he gets two or three or four people interacting as real people, with flaws and intensity and passion (as in "The Graduate" and "Closer"). And those moments here are terrific, and sometimes hilarious, and make the rest easily worthwhile.

What on paper sounds like the ingredients of a smart, snappy political satire instead makes for an over-long and lifeless dud of a movie.Mike Nichols directs John Travolta and Emma Thompson as a political couple clearly modeled on Bill and Hillary Clinton as they make their bid for President and First Lady of the U.S. But the movie has no spark at all, and it drifts aimlessly and lethargically to its conclusion.The only person who is able to breathe some life into the proceedings is Kathy Bates as a firecracker of a political consultant. Once she departs the film, her presence is sorely missed.Grade: C-

"John Travolta leads an all-star cast (including Emma Thompson, Kathy Bates, and Billy Bob Thornton) on a wild race to the presidency in this savagely funny comedy. Jack Stanton (Travolta) is a virtually unknown Southern governor on a quest for the White House with his strong, savvy, and equally ambitious wife, Susan (Thompson). Running against the odds, the Stantons need all the help they can get from their extremely colorful political team. Together, they take off on a hilarious, heart-wrenching, and ultimately history-making roller coaster ride to the top," according to the DVD sleeve description.Mike Nichols and Elaine May do a marvelous job in turning writer Joe Klein's once controversial pages into a motion picture. "Primary Colors" is a satirically fictionalized account of U.S. President Bill Clinton's 1992 primary campaign. Mr. Klein originally published his story as "Anonymous", which made Washington tongues wag for months. The story deals frankly with several of its characters' non-marital sexual relations. Ultimately, the story did not damage the reputations of Bill and Hillary Clinton; it does not accurately convey their love or intellect, but nicely illustrates Mr. Clinton's empathy.Travolta makes a particularly fine impression as the thinly-disguised Commander-in-Chief. Playing the team's "George Stephanopoulos", idealistic Adrian Lester (as Henry Burton) quietly emerges as Travolta's co-star. The rest of the cast is uniformly excellent. Putting "Betsey Wright"-like Kathy Bates (as Libby Holden) in charge of "bimbo eruptions" was an inspiration; she was born to duet with Olivia Newton-John on "Please Mr. Please", and won several "Best Supporting Actress" honors. Nichols makes every small role count (immediately obvious with Allison Janney and Mykelti Williamson).******** Primary Colors (3/20/98) Mike Nichols ~ John Travolta, Adrian Lester, Emma Thompson, Kathy Bates