BruceUllm I knew right then that the Republicans would loose. All Palin had to do was open her mouth...and out came -- nothing. She had no qualifications and hadn't a clue how the world ran. Watching this movie brought back all that Palin stubborn idiocy and I found myself laughing at her. I really felt sorry for Steve (played by Woody Haroldson). His apology to McCain for suggesting Palin was rather touching. Fox News recently realized just how empty-headed Palin is and got rid of her.Some of that delight -- to a lesser degree -- returned when Romney picked Paul Ryan as his running mate. Once again, I knew the Democrats had it in the bag.

davidgeller41 Within 2 minutes I was hooked. Within 10 minutes I knew I was in the middle of something special. I waited a long time to see this on DVD and I loved every minute of it.Julianne Moore was phenomenal and so was Woody Harrelson.HBO have got their house in order - this was one of the best things they have ever done.I didn't realize how little interaction there was between McCain and Palin, they barely saw each other. Ed Harris was wonderful as McCain, and the choice of language when they realized what a mistake she was had me laughing out loud.Definitely written with a tongue in cheek left wing agenda, but generous at times to the poor, misguided Republican party.I could watch this again in a heartbeat.

Robert W. Make no mistake, Game Change is about Sarah Palin period. Most of the things you read about it will say it chronicles John McCain's 2008 Presidential bid from choosing Palin as his running mate to their eventual defeat. This is true to a certain degree but the focus of the film, the entire purpose is to chronicle Sarah Palin, and they do so absolutely brilliantly thanks to an incredible starring performance and a very well written intelligent script. The film is often riveting and very well put together. The pacing is perfect and perhaps one of the smartest things about the film is that it is mainstreamed so that absolutely anyone can understand it, follow it, appreciate it, and be entertained but still find a deeper understanding of both Palin and McCain. I'm a democrat to the core (which is not up for debate and doesn't matter at all), but watching Game Change gave me a whole new opinion, and vision of both of the lead characters. The film does not trash Palin or McCain, and in fact gives, what I believe, is an unbiased, fair and solid vision of the race and the people involved.I've never been really impressed with Julianne Moore though she's had some good roles. So in my opinion this was literally and hands down the best role of Moore's career. She doesn't just become Palin, she shows this woman's chemistry, charisma, brilliance, downfalls, shortcomings, quirks, personality...she brings her to life. Obviously Palin fans won't necessarily like the negative sides of her personality but Moore plays her with such empathy and power. I never understood Palin's draw that she had until I watched this movie. She was an every woman, she was America's mom and you see all this in the film. One of the only downsides to this movie was I could have watched Ed Harris play John McCain in an entire film on his own. He is brilliant. I don't like the constant barrage of cursing the he does (was this really a John McCain quirk?) but that's not Harris' performance but rather the script. He gives a powerhouse performance and commands the screen every time he is on it which isn't enough. Woody Harrelson gives a subtle and yet powerful performance as campaign manager Steve Schmidt. I actually his performance is slightly toned down to not overpower that of Harris and Moore. He still is one to watch with his emotions and facial intensity. The supporting cast is a virtual whose who of Television and movie actors. A few of the more stand out performances are given by Peter MacNicol, Sarah Paulson, and Ron Livingston.Part of the brilliance of the film is how to incorporates live footage in with the actors. The scenes where Moore as Palin debates with Joe Biden, splicing together actual footage of him was brilliantly done. Clearly director Jay Roach knows his way around the political game having previously done Recount and even using his knowledge as a comedic film maker and a political know how to make The Campaign (a surprisingly hilarious and completely unbiased look at the election process.) I understand John McCain has personally spoke out against Game Change calling it false and essentially garbage but I don't think the film is negative in any way. I think it is showing the ins and outs, the mistakes and the successes of their campaign. I am certain that a similar film could be made about Obama's campaign only with a different outcome. The film is really well made despite the grievous error (in my opinion) of having so much bad language jammed in there for no reason. The musical montage with Palin getting dressed is almost a step into too mainstream waters but these tiny little missteps aside, this is one great political film thanks to a smart script and two powerful lead performances well deserving of their Golden Globe Nominations. 8.5/10

freemantle_uk Sarah Palin is one of the most famous politicians in the world, a darling of the American Right and poster girl of the Tea Party. She is also one of the most controversial for the way she acted in the 2008 Presidential Election and a source of fear and mocking from most people who do not share her beliefs. In 2012 HBO made a TV movie, hoping to coincide with a potential Palin Presidential Campaign which luckily never happened. But Game Change is still an interesting film for people interested in American Politics.During the 2008 election Barack Obama is storming the ahead in the polls, having a successful trip in Europe and becomes known for his intelligence and charisma. The John McCain campaign led by Steve Schmidt (Woody Harrelson) feel the campaign needs to do something radical to get the media's attention and after its leaked that McCain's preferred choice for his VP nominate, Joe Lieberman, they see an opportunity to surprise the media and the voters. They feel John McCain needs to appeal to both women and the right and find the perfect candidate, Sarah Palin (Julianne Moore), Governor of Alaska. But despite her confidence as a speechmaker the stresses of the campaign makes Palin more unhinged and campaign more chaotic as she makes more and more gaffs.This is not a film that is going to appeal to Palin supporters, it takes a negative view of her as the film progresses. But I personally like to think of Game Change as both a story of the corrupting influence of modern, national politics on someone who was clearly not ready. There are moments showing Palin to be competent when being asked questions in a personal interview, thinking on her feet during a her convention speech and her great strength to the Republican party was see was seemingly relatable to middle Americans and approachable when she was governor and has a great care and understanding for people with Downs Syndrome. She also occasionally came up with a good point, like that it crude of the media to pick on her 17-year-old daughter. But it was clear she was not well educated, not even having a basic understanding issues and the world and cannot even answer questions that even people would little understanding of politics could answer.There is a strong cast in the film, Moore, Harrelson, Ed Harris and Sarah Paulson. All of them play their roles very well and Moore does get all the mannerisms and speech perfectly. This blended well with the naturalistic direction Jay Roach (most famous for the Austin Powers films and Meet the Parents). Add the characters are well written, all complex and well respected professionals. Whilst Harris did not really look much like John McCain the Senator was treated with respected and wants to do the right thing. He had suffered of being on the receiving end of a dirty campaign and did not wanted to win fairly. His team are smart: but they made a massive mistake picking Palin because she was inexperienced, unintelligence and it was a case was the campaign having their cake and eating it. I am personally of the view McCain did not need to appeal to the right because they were never going to vote for Obama and McCain needed a running mate who had economic experience.Roach has a low key style of direction and it is admitted a little too televisual. There is nothing wrong with it and it blends well when real footage was used. The pacing was fine and it will appeal to people who are fans of The West Wing, even though this film is more focused on a few character relationships between the characters and how they centre around Palin.The film itself revolves around five major events, the selection of Palin, the Convention, the disastrous interviews, the preparations for the VP debate and the end campaign as Palin goes rouge. There is large number of events to put into a film that is only two hours long and some of the pacing is at times too quickly, particularly at the end where she turned from a maniac depressive to being like a bull in a china shop and goes rogue. I would have wanted to see more of that and how the campaign turned so bitter.Game Change is an interesting enough film, even if it has a rather broad approach. But it does satisfy if you are longing for more West Wing style storytelling.7.5/10