Available at Amazon.com
Director
Marshall Lewy
Starring
Breckin Meyer….John Logue
Richard Blackburn….Mr. Logue
Anna Paquin….Chloe
Joyce Krenz….Mrs. Logue
Adriana O’Neil….Gloria
MGM Home Entertainment / 2007 / 99 Minutes / Rated R
DVD Release Date: February 12, 2008
List Price: $26.98 [buy it at Amazon.com]
The Movie
With the obvious exception of religion, nothing is more divisive than politics. People fight, kill, and even die for their political beliefs. Some do it for nothing more than notoriety—the chance to be a martyr and have their names go down in history. Others do it because they passionately believe in a cause; they see an injustice and absolutely cannot stand by until that injustice has been rectified, even if the struggle costs them their lives. A few people, though, make a stand because of semi-drunken public declarations made in a fit of political fervor.
John Logue finds himself in just such a situation. Set near the end of the 2004 presidential election, Blue State begins with Logue campaigning door to door for John Kerry. Later on in a bar full of other Kerry campaigners, Logue declares that he’ll move to Canada if Bush wins. Fast forward to the end of the election and Logue finds himself in a bad situation—not only did the person he hoped would turn the country away from disaster lose, but people actually believe that he’ll make good on his promise.
At first Logue has no intention of actually moving, but quickly he loses his job and his girlfriend, making the prospect of living in Bush’s America even more painful than before. What finally clinches it is a call from a Canadian organization called “Marry a Canadian” that is set up to help American Liberals flee the country. Logue decides to check it out, but since the drive from California to Winnipeg is rather long, he places flyers around town asking for somebody to share the driving and travel expenses. Enter Chloe, who is also looking to flee the United States, but for completely different reasons.
As you probably already guessed, Blue State has a definite political viewpoint. It makes no bones on how it perceives the 2004 election and the Bush presidency. Most of these perceptions are voiced by John Logue, who at times can be overbearing and overzealous in his thinking. He’s a likable character, but could quickly become annoying with his one-track thinking if not for Chloe, who does share many of Logue’s core ideas, but is more pragmatic and tempered in her thinking and approach to life.
In many ways this movie is about idealism versus pragmatism, and it’s that universal theme (which we’re seeing played out even now in race for the Presidential primaries between Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton) that keeps what could be considered a very dated story fresh and pertinent even when it delves into long diatribes about the Bush administration.
What could be considered a serious flaw, though, is the movie’s lack of an opposing viewpoint. Of course, the filmmakers are not required to insert one, but this lack of a Conservative point of view—for lack of a better term—makes Blue State too one-sided. Despite Chloe acting as a counter-balance to Logue’s entrenched Liberalism, she still works from the same ideology. The only characters who represent Conservatism are Logue’s parents, and they are not well portrayed at all. The father is just as die hard in his ideas as his son, but is far more belligerent, going so far as to antagonize his son from the first moment he sees him. The mother is quieter than the father, but it’s the stillness of what Pink Floyd called “quiet desperation.” She is a bland, almost colorless character who defends the father more out of habit than any kind of loyalty or because of shared beliefs.
Despite this, there is a lot to like about Blue State . For the most part it is an intelligent, thoughtful discussion on politics that doesn’t pretend to offer any answers. Like all good road trip movies, this one is about the inner journey the characters take and how it changes them. It’s not a perfect movie, but it does have some interesting points about politics, political statements, and personal responsibility. I wouldn’t recommend buying it, but you could rent far worse.
The DVD
The Video
The movie was presented in widescreen format in 1.33:1 aspect ratio and while there were no major problems, you can tell that the moviemakers were not using top-of-the-line equipment.
The Audio
The audio was presented in Dolby Digital and like the video, you can tell that they weren’t working with the best equipment, but that never affected the viewing experience.
Extra Features
Commentary with Director Marshall Levy
Like most commentary tracks this was fairly boring. The only fact I took away is that the beginning of the film where Breckin Meyer walks door-to-door to campaign for Kerry was based on the director’s own experiences working for the Kerry campaign. Other than that this was mostly technical information and plenty of “he/she did great in this scene” comments.
Trailers (cumulative running time: 6:22)
Music Within. Lars and the Real Girl. Death at a Funeral.
| The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for Blue State | |
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| THE VIDEO | |
| THE AUDIO | |
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