Synopsis
America, This Is Your Wake Up Call.
A youthful perspective on the 1992 presidential campaign with a witty, cautionary message to young Americans to start participating in democracy or get the kind of government they deserve.
The Last Party
Cast
Directors
Producers
Writers
Editor
Cinematography
Executive Producers
Genre
Releases by Date
Theatrical limited
-
USA
Releases by Country
USA
27 Aug 1993
- Theatrical limited New York City, New York
Popular reviews
More-
A documentary about the 1992 presidential election hosted by Robert Downey Jr. He goes to the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, speaks to well-known personalities of the day (including Spike Lee, Oliver Stone, John Kerry, and Al Sharpton), and visits Wall Street, abortion activists, an AIDS protest, and other sites of interest, with no visible structure. Downey, who positions himself as a sort-of everyman, appears to have known almost nothing about politics going into this, and his thesis basically comes down to: "Politics... what a concept!"
Worthless on its own terms. Mildly fascinating as a time capsule from The End Of History.
-
“The Cold War is over and the new American enemy is the other Americans.”
”I see media as the nuclear weapon of the 90s.”
This movie had 5 different songs from Check Your Head by the Beastie Boys and I’m still not over it.
Yet another documentary following the 1992 Bush v Clinton election that made me painfully aware of all the ways that nothing has actually changed in the last few decades in America, essentially since the Cold War ended. People just thrive on nostalgic revisionism and ignorance. The amount of times the Republicans in this documentary talk about the “liberal media” and its lies is almost jarring. These aren’t new tactics or even new ideals. Theres also an underlying…
-
rdj confronting a pro-lifer about how restricting abortions is seriously fucked up is so sexy to me
-
“What? RDJ did a doc on the 92 election? And it’s on the Criterion Channel? This should be fun!”
*95 minutes later*
“Oh god nothing has changed, we’re so fucked.”
-
Really interesting as a political time capsule but it's the nature of movie stardom that it's even more interesting as a retrospective character study of RDJ before he sold his soul to the Mouse and the Spider, he's kind of a dope here of course but clearly a smart and well meaning one, he has a great moment towards the beginning where he talks about how movies take so much out of your life that you have to put some real meaning into them if you can or otherwise it's pointless that almost seems too on-the-nose from this perspective.
-
"The Cold War is over and the new American enemy is the other Americans."
Robert Downey Jr. reports on the 1992 Bush v. Clinton campaign season from within the midst of cocaine psychosis. A deep and wide ranging portrait of an American political landscape that still feels very recognizable today. Divisions have deepened, but the cracks were already very much there and already very wide. Also a vivid survey of the wider American cultural landscape of '92 and a deeply unsettling portrait of a man in the depths of drug addiction for some reason being allowed to create a political documentary starring himself. Fascinating and immensely strange.
-
Was slightly more charmed by Downey than I might have expected, though he is still incredibly grating. His father’s sincere enthusiasm for Clinton’s America is its own damning short film indictment of boomerism. As for me? I need to start a podcast where I analyze every movie where Dave Mustaine appears to say something annoying. MUSTAINIACS: coming soon.
-
watching coked-out pre-mcu babyface RDJ do a rambling impression of a reporter while soulless hatchet-faced republicans (cheap suits, balding) holler themselves hoarse about liberal media bias and blithe democrats (miscoordinated suits, bad hair) sit on their bloated asses is a reminder that some things change, and some things really don’t. kinda boring, only interesting for the recursive nature of our toxic political duopoly’s endless talking points, and maybe if you’re a young person who didn’t know RDJ used to be a cracked-out psycho who couldn’t get a job.
-
Encourage More Himbos To Politically Educate Themselves Via First-Hand Experiences 2020
this is Robert Downey Jr. doing BORAT, except, like... Zero pranks, he actually has the social cognition of Borat hahaha. personal highlight is him walking through the corridors of the DNC asking room-to-room for free catering -- too much surface-level learning in the propaganda machine, grug, must eat sandwich, grug. surfing with Commie-hating Dana Rohrabacher is unhinged Ali G shit. make fun of the Gen X aesthetics all you want, scoring political turmoil to Beastie Boys, Cypress Hill, and garage thrash punk will never not rule.
-
rare movie that i think is valid to engage in ironically- like, its technically a half star movie, but taken in the abstract, as an ode to celebrity brain narcissism, its an incredible object.
robert downey senior swears off the leftist movements of the 60s, calls em a waste of time, urges all the young people watching (lol) to vote for Bill Clinton in what is of course, the most important election of his life time (a refrain echoed often in this film, and in the early days of October 2020 when i watched...)
RDJ lectures AZ about police violence at one point ... accuses him of reverse racism
also has a faux-candid sit down with a little boy where he tries to give him advice on how to deal with his shitty dad ... fucked up stuff.
Really perfect illustration of the embarrassing relationship between Hollywood and the american dem party, wish he’d make a follow up.
-
The relevance of this documentary is FUCKING PALPABLE. This could have been really generic and basic, but having Robert Downey Jr. as the correspondent makes this so interesting and entertaining to watch. He knows when to have fun and use his charm, but he's also very respectful and allows these people to talk.. I also appreciate how it never picks a side and allows those who are liberal or conservative to just speak their minds and beliefs. Awesome documentary, check it out on Criterion Channel! AND REMEMBER TO VOTE!
-
Incredible footage with some raw interviews that capture the state of anger in America not just months after Rodney King, but also 12 years of Reagan and Bush.