Bud Johnson (Kevin Costner) is a blue-collar factory worker who lives life between his job (which he is constantly late for), the local bar and his daughter (who takes care of him more than he takes care of her). The movie starts off on election day and his daughter, Molly (Madeline Carroll) tells her father that she expects him to vote and that it is really important to her. Bud makes the promise, but it's quite evident that his faith in the democratic processes isn't all that solid and he couldn't care less about voting.
After a hard day of work, of getting laid-off actually, Bud heads to the bar to drink his worries away. Meanwhile, Molly waits for Bud at the voting booths, but becomes more and more disappointed as the evening drags on. Just before the booths close up, she sneaks in and votes for her father. But she is so close to the deadline that the machine doesn't read her vote. Normally, I'm sure such an incident would fall through the cracks, but the running mates are so close that both candidates have half of the votes and it all comes down to the the Johnson's little community in New Mexico. And as it turns out, the only unaccounted for vote, Bud's, is the tie-breaker between Republican President Andrew Boone (Kelsey Grammer, Fraiser) and his opponent, Democrat Donald Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper).
The next morning, not only is Bud surprised to find that he supposedly voted, but that the fate of the next presidency falls to him. At first, he is told to keep this fact secret, but it isn't long before the media finds out who the missing voter is and his little quiet town gets overrun by media, people outspoken about politics and folks trying to make a profit.
Among the media is local reporter Kate Madison (Paula Patton, Mirrors) and her boss, John Sweeney (George Lopez). Being the first one with Bud's story, Kate tries to keep a hold of it as if it is hers alone, but as the national media invades the small town, she finds herself being pushed aside.
Meanwhile, both candidates are urged to meet Bud in person by their respective Campaign Managers, Boone's Martin Fox (Stanley Tucci) and Greenleaf's Art Crumb (Nathan Lane). With the entire election coming down to one man, both candidates pull out all the stops to convince Bud who he should vote for. At first, it starts off with simple one-on-one discussions, then it goes to fancy dinners and commercials directly addressing Bud himself. As the media starts to interview Bud and ask him details about his own political views, the mixed and erratic responses he gives causes the candidates to react accordingly. When Bud speaks up against having his job replaced by Mexicans, Greenleaf goes against his platforms and creates a commercial talking about stopping immigration. When Bud makes a comment about gay marriages, Boone makes an ad promising to make it legal. As time wears on, both politicians start to notice just how much they are compromising their views for this one person who doesn't really know what he believes in.
There are a few more plot points as the movie progresses. Molly starts to get annoyed with Bud's behavior, Kate starts to suspect what really happened on voting day, and Bud himself starts to see how much of a fool he appears to be. Like I said, the story is pretty solid and mostly good to see.
What I was truly impressed with was Carroll. While this young actress has only been around for a few years and most of her credits go to single appearances in various TV shows, she really packs a punch. Even through the film featured many big names like Costner, Hopper, Grammer, Tucci and Lane, she easily held her own and, quite frankly, really made the movie. Since she is the instigator of the movie and the real driving force between each major event, it was really important for her to be a solid actress, and Swing Vote really showed what she can do.
As for special features, there's nothing here to really speak of. In fact, the only thing available is a slew of deleted scenes, a commentary and a behind-the-scenes documentary. So if you are big into the extras, then that isn't really a selling point here.
So how does Swing Vote stack up all around? If you get past the implausible setup (it's basically the 2000 election taken to an extreme), it's enjoyable and could be a good movie to motivate people into voting. I have to say though, the real reason to see it is for Carroll if nothing else.
