How many times can the mantra “The rent is too damn high” be uttered in a 73-minute movie? When the movie is “Damn!” the answer is 91, or 1.26 times a minute.
“Damn!” is a lightweight documentary about Jimmy McMillan, a 64-year-old African-American who ran for governor of New York on the Rent Is Too Damn High party ticket, of which he is the only member. Nobody paid much attention to him until he joined a televised 2010 debate that included fringe candidates. His speech surfaced on YouTube, where it received 2 million views in the first 48 hours.
Suddenly the formerly homeless McMillan, who sports a distinctive white beard and hairdo, was a celebrity of sorts. The doc, directed by Aaron Fisher-Cohen, follows McMillan in the run-up to the election and the immediate aftermath. The candidate made it to “Saturday Night Live” and Don Imus, who proclaimed, “I swear to God I’m going to vote for you.”
McMillan comes off as a perhaps-delusional opportunist determined to make the most of his 15 minutes in the spotlight. “We can make a mint,” he tells an aide. McMillan’s 41,131 votes on Election Day weren’t enough to send him to Albany, but he did land a job hawking cars in a TV commercial.
Fisher-Cohen remains neutral, but I wish he had pressed the candidate on how much rent he pays for his own pad. Pressed repeatedly on that matter by Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity, McMillan says only: “I pay rent.”
A seasoned newsman would have done some digging to discover what McMillan pays, but the director doesn’t pursue the matter. The film also fails to press McMillan on whether he’s more interested in good government or, as it appears, his own bank account. Minus information like that, “Damn!” is little more than a rehash of old news.