The Campaign – review

Malcolm Muggeridge claimed when he gave up the editorship of Punch in 1957 that public life in our times had become so absurdly comic that it was beyond the capacity of humorists to ridicule it. Well, there's nothing in The Campaign, a lumpen political farce about the battle of two South Carolina Republicans to represent a congressional district in Washington DC, to match the recent antics of Romney, Ryan and the Tea Party. The film's co-producers, Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis, play respectively the lecherous, idiotic hypocrite defending his seat and the dimwit chosen by two rich rightwing brothers (played by John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd and clearly based on Charles and David Koch) to oppose him. All four overact wildly. Among the scatological knockabout there are two passable jokes, one about accidentally socking a baby, another about accidentally punching Uggie, the dog in The Artist.

Jay Roach, the director and co-producer, clearly drew upon his experience of making Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Meet the Fockers rather than the more recent one of directing and producing the TV film about 2008 presidential election, Game Change (for which he has just won an Emmy). The Thick of It is in no danger of having its reputation challenged by such witlessness.