Upon being hired by a political consultancy to take the election campaign of Senator Castillo, Jane Bodine, an intelligent former politician, who is well known for her best campaigns, faces many challenges in doing her work against her smart rival.
The movie is funny enough to get its share of laughs but, in its angry heart, it's a tragedy - and the saddest part is that too much of this story is true.
Our Brand is Crisis hits a lot of clunky notes and the end is unforgivably cornball, but it's still one of the liveliest political black comedies I've seen in a while.
There is a serious functional problem running throughout in that some of the dialogue is conducted in Spanish with English subtitles, and some is conducted in English, even when Bolivians are talking to each other. How weird is that? Don't bother.
It's the first time I've watched a David Gordon Green movie and found myself wishing I was in the capable hands of a set-'em-up-knock-'em-down director like Jay Roach.
Much of what the film considers fodder for satire is too familiar to feel revelatory or shocking, while characters that start out believable behave in unrecognizably ludicrous ways simply because the script forces them to.
