"I'm going to do something outrageous.  I'm going to tell you the truth..."      

PRIMARY COLORS (R) 

Reviewed March 21, 1998 - Check out the Primary Colors website.

As if Wag the Dog wasn't enough political satire for us this moviegoing season, art imitates political life just one more time in director Mike Nichols' latest film, Primary Colors.  Boasting a marquee cast including John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Kathy Bates, and Billy Bob Thornton, Primary Colors follows the story of Jack Stanton, a scandal-plagued Democrat on the Presidential campaign trail.  There's no question here: Jack Stanton is Bill Clinton, with John Travolta in the presidential role and a supporting cast taken right out of the corridors of Washington.  Let's run down the list...

  • Emma Thompson as Susan, Stanton's politically savvy wife. (Real life counterpart: Hilary Clinton)
  • Billy Bob Thornton as Richard Jemmons, Stanton's fast-talking strategist. (Real life counterpart: James Carville)
  • Adrian Lester as Henry Burton, the idealistic young campaign manager from whose perspective we see this film. (Real life counterpart: George Stephanopolous)
  • Kathy Bates as Libby Holden, Stanton's campaign researcher/dirt-digger. (Real life counterpart: Betsy Wright)

    • The list goes on of course, all the way down to a Gennifer Flowers look-alike named Cashmere McLeod, as Primary Colors blurs the line between fact and fiction, and allows its story to resonate on many levels.  What is the real price of political victory?  What is the tradeoff between means and ends?  These are just some of the questions raised in Primary Colors, with a cast that delivers a uniformly solid performance and a story that moves at a consistent pace.  Funny at times, disturbing at others, this film offers a cynical view of our world.  It also tries to show what may go on behind the headlines.  Politics and scandal...it's a tried and true combination, and one that's nicely explored in Primary Colors.