Top political movies

My one-time colleague and all-time Hoya superfan Chris Cillizza, a/k/a Washington Post‘s “The Fix,” recently asked for readers to submit their favorite political movies of all time. Instead of commenting, I figured “Hey, why not blow this up into my own post?” So here we are.

I think the first task is to figure out what, exactly, a political movie is. There are obvious choices like Robert Redford’s The Candidate and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Obviously political, those two. But what about Dr. Strangelove? Is that a nuclear war film or a political film? What about JFK? Is that a conspiracy theory film or a political film? Just because it has the name of a president as its title, there’s nothing particularly political about it, you know?

For my own list, I defined “political movie” as any movie that revolves around the world of politics, even if it’s not explicitly about politics. Dr. Strangelove makes the cut; JFK does not.

• Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb — Might as well lead off with this one. No other film better captured the absurdity of Mutually Assured Destruction. Great performances from Sterling Hayden and George C. Scott, not to mention Peter Sellers, who had three different roles.
• In the Loop — One of the all-time funniest looks at the life of political staffers. Actually, it’s probably the only in-depth look at the life of political staffers that I can think of. Armando Ianucci’s film is up for best adapted screenplay at this year’s Academy Awards; it deserves to win solely for the foul-mouthed ejaculations of Peter Capaldi’s Malcolm Tucker (a/k/a the British Rahm).
• Dave — I’m a sucker for schmaltz, and this feature — about a presidential lookalike who has to fill in when the president goes into a coma — is rife with the sticky stuff. Kevin Kline is fantastic as the title character.
• The Contender — A silly movie produced solely with the intention of defending Bill Clinton’s sexual peccadilloes — seriously, anytime Hollywood tries to play the “We’re not liberal!” card, remind them of this ridiculous picture — I love the acting in this film. How often will you see The Dude himself play the President?
• Nixon — This epic look at the life of one of America’s most intriguing political figures is fascinating from start to finish. The middle of three Oliver Stone pictures on American presidents, tucked neatly between JFK and W., Nixon is the one that best holds up to the test of time, I think.
• Frost/Nixon — Speaking of Nixon, 2008’s Frost/Nixon was also quite good, in a made-for-television sort of way. Riveting performances from Frank Langella and Michael Sheen.

How about one terrible political movie? The worst I’ve seen in recent years is Kevin Costner’s Swing Vote. Here’s how I described it:

In the end, “Swing Vote” isn’t sure what kind of film it wants to be. It hectors us on the wonders of voting like a cranky civics teacher but treats the political process like a corrupt freak show. It marvels at the riches of the American spirit but focuses on the gutted, broken portion of its citizenry. It preaches the importance of family but offers redemption of its failed father only by default.

Blah.