Primary Colors is so smart, it doesn't care if you don't get all of its satire. It moves forward with all the fragility of a bull in a china shop -- and when portraying the backwards world of politics, director Mike Nichols appreciates that this style is precisely what is required. Based on the bestselling novel by Anonymous, it is constantly involving and insightful, alternating between what could be legitimate, real world backdoor conversations, and the inept balancing act with which elected officials handle a myriad of situations.
John Travolta plays Governor Jack Stanton, in what is easily the performance of his career. Over the years, Travolta has done a little bit of everything: the young rebel thing, the mobster/hit man persona... but as Stanton, he has found his niche. He's eerily perfect as the philandering Clinton-esque politician the real world has come to know; a man whose motives are actually quite sincere, but whose bad habits are beyond the pale. Emma Thompson disguises her British accent as the dynamic wife Susan, whose public image is always at risk thanks to her husband. Still, she stands by him through thick and thin. The adorable Maura Tierney is quickly becoming one of my favourite actresses, here mastering a supporting role as the frantic Daisy, and Adrian Lester provides adequate earnestness as the idealistic Henry Burton. Each of their characters gather momentum as the campaign trail to the White House approaches. As does Kathy Bates's Oscar-nominated performances as Libby Holden, and Billy Bob Thornton as Richard Jemmons. J.R. Ewing himself, Larry Hagman, turns in a fine third-act appearance as Jack's rival, the seemingly pristine Governor Fred Picker.
What catapults Primary Colors into a league of its own are its comic moments. In one uproarious scene, members of the campaigning team desparately try to prep the Governor's wife for the possibility of public mud-slinging (because of Jack's dalliances), and use metaphors about boars in the woods or something like that. I was laughing so hard I missed half the lines. There's also a very fresh scene featuring Rob Reiner as a radio talk show host who doesn't exactly ask politicians the tough questions. Or when Henry watches one of Jack's telecasts from a local diner in order to hear what the common folk are really saying. Did I mention the bit where Jack and his entourage scour a roadside ditch to find the phone he threw out of his car window?
If we didn't have a fully blown caricature of the escapades of former president Bill Clinton, we sure do now. And if the film's conclusion, where Stanton has finally realized a dubious achievement (despite scores of folly and error), isn't quite off-putting, perhaps it's because the reality of the situation is so inherently obvious. This is an exceptional picture.
