A Highly Underrated Movie

As Bill Clinton was giving his (masterful - no matter who you are!) speech last night, there was a passage in there that struck me as being very familiar. He said:

“There are already more than 3 million jobs open and unfilled in America. Mostly because the people who apply for them don’t yet have the required skills to do them.”

I knew it from somewhere. In fact, I think it was Bill Clinton who said it, but a long time ago. It was driving me crazy. Finally, it hit me. I had heard those words before, but it wasn't Bill Clinton who said it...but it also sorta was.

Huh?

It was actually John Travolta playing Governor Jack Stanton who is really supposed to be Governor Bill Clinton. It was from the movie "Primary Colors".



"Primary Colors" was based on a best selling book and came out in 1998. And it was mostly forgotten.

But it is awesome!

Here's why it is not properly rated: It fell into one of my biggest pet peeves - a movie that comes out too soon after the real events that inspired it.

I hate that. Things need time to breathe, for us all to gain some perspective. The best Vietnam movies didn't come out until years later. This movie came out while Clinton was still president. It came out just as the Lewinsky thing was hitting, and it's not about Lewinsky.

So no one cared. It was old news. But all news goes through the same cycle. It's breaking, then it's regular, then it's old, then it's the stuff that happens on "The Newsroom", and then, at a certain point, it becomes history.

The history section is when all of the movies should be made, but not a second earlier. "Primary Colors" was made in the very unfortunate Newsroom time frame. Not good.

But now more time has past, and that stuff has become history. And it's on cable all the time now, and I seem to watch it every time it pops up on the guide. It's simply great. It's one of those movies that make you wonder why all movies can't be good. It's so effortless, it's not trying too hard, it's just enjoyable.

Travolta's performance isn't amazing, but Billy Bob Thornton and Kathy Bates absolutely kill it. I don't think those two could ever find characters more perfect for them. Even better, Kathy Bates doesn't get naked once.

My favorite scene in the movie is when the staffers - played by Maura Tierney (representing Dee Dee Myers maybe?), Adrian Lester (George Stephanopoulos), and Billy Bob Thornton (James Carville) have a sit down meeting with Emma Thompson (Hillary Clinton) and her friend. 

The staffers have to very gently explain to her that the media is going to start doing stories about her husband cheating on her, and they need to be prepared for it. They need to dig up all of the dirt first, so they'll know what they're going up against.