THIS new made-for-HBO movie about the 2000 presidential election ballot debacle in Florida might just as easily have been “Sour Grapes.”
The movie, titled “Recount” and boasting a “prestige” cast led by Kevin Spacey, seems to have been made by people who continue to nurse various wounds over what they still believe was a larcenous victory for George W. Bush over Al Gore.
Which is not to dismiss their point of view. This particular election was such a squeaker, and was concluded under such murky circumstances, that the conspiracy theorists who believe Bush’s victory was the result of a vast right-wing plot might have a point, although this movie does not present any evidence other than circumstantial to support their view.
“Recount” retells the story from the point of view of both the Gore and Bush camps as they grapple with the chaotic aftermath of the infamous election night in which the TV networks bungled their projections, first calling the election for Gore and then Bush and then neither when the balloting in Florida appeared to implode.
In one corner, Kevin Spacey, in the role of a campaign adviser named Ron Klain, leads the charge for Al Gore. In the other, British actor Tom Wilkinson (seen recently in “Michael Clayton”) as James Baker, who led the Bush camp.
The winner: Wilkinson, and not just because the Bush people won when Gore finally capitulated six weeks after election day. Wilkinson steals the entire movie with his portrayal of Baker, playing him as a brilliant, wily political strategist.
The whole debacle eventually came down to a US Supreme Court decision not to support a continuation of the Florida ballot recount that had been sought by the Gore camp. The movie notes that most of the justices at that time had been appointed by either Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush’s father, but it presents no evidence that they had all gotten together conspiratorially to give the election to George Jr.
Still, the movie possesses an underlying smugness that seems to say that all would be well in the world today if only Al Gore had eked out a win that fateful November and December – a conclusion that is impossible to reach.
And as a cabdriver on “Seinfeld” once told Elaine: “Smugness is not a good quality.”
“Recount”
Sunday night at 9 on HBO