There's nothing so sad as a film that desperately wants to be profound without actually having much to say. Such is the case with the well-made but ultimately hollow Kevin Costner vehicle Swing Vote. While at times it's a smart film and has a fantastic cast of top-grade talent, the film's ultimate message of civic responsibility is undercut by its own sentimentality and seeming implausibility. Early in the film, when the presidential election comes down to a virtual tie, we are told that the House of Representatives might have to step in and break that tie. But wait! It turns out, due to some election fraud at the hands of a 10-year-old daughter and surrogate nagging wife, that instead of the duly elected officials of this country doing their constitutional duty, the decision is left up to some dumb-ass, drunken redneck from Texico, New Mexico.

And if you can forget that tiny, insignificant detail, you might get a kick out of the wily antics of a drunken Kevin Costner getting pushed around by his impossibly brilliant daughter. The film devolves into a film version of Civic Responsibility For Dummies, often getting mired in jokes about how badly these two presidential candidates are willing to sink in order to get one man to vote for them. And while the film's heart is in the right place and the political commercials are funny as a rubber crutch, it is the film's complete and utter lack of teeth and its pandering to the middle of the road that actually makes this a debate-free no-brainer of a film.

Swing Vote instead takes care to not offend anyone but also fails to enlighten anyone but the dimmest of bulbs either. You'll probably find yourself shrugging along with the movie, wondering why they're trying to portray both of the political candidates as really great guys, while only casually making fun of them and painting them as morons. The deleted scenes offer even more likability as we spend some time with each of them as they reach an epiphany about who they are and what they mean to their respective political parties. And while these are nice moments, they punctuate where this film went wrong. They want to make politics look dirty, but just dirty enough to need your help. Not as corrupt and soulless as we try to ignore.

The only other extra is the typical paint-by-numbers featurette talking about what a brilliant script it was and what a great film they were making and what a tremendous cast they had along with commentary of the same brand. The entire ordeal was incredibly lame. I wanted to like this. I am a Costner fan and a huge fan of political films. Hell, I'm even a big Frank Capra fan from which this draws a lot of inspiration. Sadly, this is no Capra picture and there is no great triumph at the end. Only the sad realization that two hours have passed and you've pretty much got nothing to show for it. I'd put it on par with decent television. It's not terrible or anything, but it really isn't worth your time.

Swing Vote is available now from Touchstone Home Entertainment.

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