The new comedy “The Campaign” highlights how much money is used to influence politics in a post-Citizens United era, stars Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis said on Tuesday’s Hardball.
In the movie, two shady billionaires—resembling the Koch brothers and are played by John Lithgow and Dan Akroyd—use their money to pick winners and losers in different congressional districts.
“We really just wanted the movie to be kind of non-partisan in terms of politics, but we wanted to kind of put a mirror up to the fact that there’s just all this money flowing,” Ferrell told Chris Matthews.
Ferrell added that the comedy in the movie will probably be what draws people to see it, but “underneath that there’s the message of, ‘we need to keep an eye on this, otherwise this system is not going to work for us anymore.’”
Galifianakis added: “If a couple of 17-year olds see the movie, and they’re not really politically aware and they discuss it after the movie, you know all the money and Citizens United, that’s a good conversation for teenagers to start having.” Later, in Hardball’s “Let Me Finish” segment, Matthews agreed: “Beneath the jokes and slapstick, there’s a hard reality. This is what politics is on the verge of becoming in this country: a couple of rich guys with huge money made in gas and oil who use the latest statistics and political intel to go into a state or congressional district and pick off someone who doesn’t vote their interests, putting in someone who will—right down the line.”
The place for in-depth analysis, commentary and informed perspectives. Recommended
