Nella Faye A.

Rico
BPAG 3-1

Rock plays Mays Gilliam, a Washington, D.C. alderman, who's a man of the
people. He not only does good things in his neighborhood, but even the drug
dealers

like

him.

When

the

existing

democratic

presidential

candidates

unexpectedly die, Gilliam finds himself selected by the party to replace them, all in
the name of a politically ambitious underling who sets up Rock to lose in hopes of
securing the nomination in the next election. Through a series of gags and mishaps,
Gilliam not only gets elected, but gets the girl too. The film certainly has the gags,
many of which are genuinely funny. In fact, if it were all gags, a la "Airplane" and
"The Naked Gun", then Rock's film would have been surprisingly refreshing. But, the
humor was diluted by attempts at a serious side - both on the political front and the
romantic front - and the script fails to know when one ends and the other begins.
What's more, the serous or romantic sides to the film, gags notwithstanding, were
just plain silly.
This movie emphasizes how politics work in America. There are plenty of
racially aware commentaries called into play, mostly cynical about the country's
feelings toward Black people, but Rock wisely shows balance because not all white
people are against him. Yet, as a candidate, Rock points the finger at many of the
evils of society, but rarely actually addresses any solution to them. When he does,
it ends up being worse than if he said nothing at all. The lead character Rock goes
after men, women, whites, blacks, voters, and just about everyone and everything
else. The movie have some really funny moments and from the beginning we can
see his typical kind of humor with a lot of social criticism and political satire. He

diagnoses the problems in society and the solutions given were not conducive to
deliver the public services. It emphasizes societys perception about politics and
presidency in 2003, where it is not important but today it just plain eerie and
disturbing. The lead character continually displays a good heart. He loves God and
wants God to bless everyone. Some of his solutions would appeal to moral
Americans. His answer to child care is for people to take care of their own children,
instead of shoving them off on others. His answer for youth crime is for people to
discipline their children (knock them out). His answer for Social Security is to get the
government out of people's pockets. He really wants good to triumph. He even gets
the good girl at the end. But, regrettably, the foul language and the references to
drugs, pimps, prostitutes, and strippers overwhelm the heart of the movie. All in all
this movie give insights about qualities to be a president, the culture way of
campaign and people who are not given importance by the government.