Perfect cast and a good story

A Masterpiece!

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

"Our Brand is Crisis" has some slight value. It's portrayal of the chaos in the elections of many third world countries comes very close to what one often sees in the news. The focus of this film, though, is on the paid professionals and teams who work on the strategies for campaign publicity, politicking and vote getting. Watching this film, one has a sense of the Hessians who were the hired professional soldiers who served and fought during the colonial days for Great Britain. Like the Hessians before them, these pol-pros don't care about the people. Nor do they necessarily have to care for their candidate. They are in the game for one thing - to win. And many of them will do anything to win, however dirty, illegal or immoral. One can't imagine why Sandra Bullock wanted to, or would make this film. It's not a very pretty product, and certainly not entertaining. Billy Bob Thornton plays a crass, crude, and crooked jerk. It's a type of role he seems to be drawn to since "Bad Santa" of 2003. This isn't a film that most would enjoy.

The film claims to be "inspired by true events" but is closer to a work of total fiction and is designed to make us look at our own candidates in an election year who claim there is a crisis and they are the only ones who can fix it.The movie is entertaining as the quirky and unorthodox Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock) is hired by a Bolivian senator in a presidential bid. Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida) is "not trustworthy, not likable, stuck up little a-hole." He also has a smirk and connections to the IMF. Bodine takes on the job because her opponent is managed by Pat Candy (Billy Bob Thornton) a master strategist who has beaten Bodine on several occasions.Castiilo's lack of charm is changed into being a forceful individual who can get the job done in what is now a "time of crisis." Bodine has a history with Candy as the campaign becomes personal. This is an interesting behind the scenes view of campaigns filled with humor and universal political themes.Good job Bullock.Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity. Sex talk.

Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock)is a hardened, political consultant recruited by an American political campaign team to overcome a huge lead in the Bolivian election and get their candidate, Senator Pedro Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida) elected as the new President. Although slow to take charge and rally the troops, "Calamity" Jane eventually becomes the energized, back alley brawler she is known to be and throws herself completely into the challenge and at the same time settles an old score with her nemesis (Billy Bob Thornton). While critics maintain that Bullock's performance was lackluster, I saw her character, Jane Bodine,as fresh, original, and nuanced. Billy Bob Thornton reaffirmed his versatility as an actor and the remarkable footage of Bolivia established the invasive nature of the American puppet masers. I rate this movie 8 out of 10.

There is no 'bad' Sandra Bullock movie. But that's my opinion. Our Brand is Crisis reaffirms my belief. It is well paced with sufficiently despicable characters for the story and a cathartic ending. Its a dirty enough political drama and its as dry as the whole business gets. It gets my thumbs up for showing the drab side of political PR that is in reality. Yes, it is absolutely mindnumbingly uninteresting and hollow. Sorry, there's nothing entertaining about political consultants who sold their soul to the devil years ago and are now living for the paychecks that come from installing bad leaders to power, fully aware of the moral deprivation of their job.It surely would take a certain audience to enjoy this movie. I am thinking of media representatives and political image managers. They must appreciate the depths to which Bullock's character sinks to finally stick it to the adversary, the rival consultant played by Billy Bob. He's so masterful at playing obnoxious roles. Although, I think he got a little shadowed by nastiness of our fierce, Sun Tzu quoting protagonist. Things got way more personal than they normally should but there's nothing normal about American consultants trying to guide leaders in countries where they don't understand the native language and have no clue of the local culture. In fact, the original documentary that this film is based on, goes as far as to claim that this mismatch of perspectives ultimately hurts the future governments in those countries as people basically lose trust in their leaders. If you love Veep then you'll like this as well. It has those moments of indiscretion that makes the Julia Louis-Dreyfus series so funny. With political campaigning becoming more and more about advertising and less about policy, leaders have become extremely frivolous about their promises. They just want to win the election. This attitude is fueled by more aggressive PR managers who plan for every little act to contribute towards maximum exposure. Whether you fit the narrative to the man or fit the man in the narrative, you know that democracy is about winning the majority vote. Thus the usual trickery of one-upmanship has to ensue, even at the risk of driving the campaign bus down the abyss.