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In his years of hosting The Daily Show on Comedy Central, Jon Stewart has interviewed countless politicians and offered his observations on everything from elections to world events. And in Irresistible, he blends his talents for comedy and commentary for an over-the-top look at a local election gone mad.
Irresistible stars Steve Carell as top Democratic strategist Gary Zimmer. As the party looks for new opportunities, one of Gary’s staffers shows him a video from a city council meeting in a struggling Wisconsin town, where a farmer stood up to remind the mayor of the town’s values and fight for the town’s immigrants. Convinced that this veteran farmer from a small Midwestern town could give the party the help they need in the Midwest, Gary travels to Deerlaken to convince Jack Hastings (Chris Cooper) to run for mayor. But when the race starts heating up, he’s joined by Republican strategist Faith Brewster (Rose Byrne), who will do anything in her power to stop them.
From the opening scenes of this political commentary, Stewart makes it pretty clear how he feels about his characters: it’s their job to lie and to spin—and they do so with sheer glee. They don’t care what’s good for the country—or for the people. They just care about doing whatever it takes to win. And that introduction sets up a film that’s funny because it’s all too true.
Admittedly, for all of his hilariously tone deaf behavior, Gary comes off a little better. At least he makes an attempt to look like he wants to fit in. He has his team buy him good Midwestern clothes and rent him a good Midwestern car. And Carell’s typically boisterous but bumbling comedic style makes him somehow likably obnoxious.
Byrne’s Faith, on the other hand, swoops down with no apologies, no concessions, stomping through the town in her designer suits and dresses with a perfect blow-out. She’s loud and cold and unlikable in the most amusing of ways.
The story, meanwhile, is clever and witty and perfectly cynical. Stewart has seen the system at work. He knows how broken it is. And he fills the film with laughs and surprises and a clear view of the chaos that is the American political system.
If you’re sick and tired of the lies and manipulation and insanity of another election year—if you’re able to laugh at the obvious flaws of both sides of the political scale—Irresistible will keep you laughing with its over-the-top characters and its honestly outrageous look at political strategists and their unwavering agendas.
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