Bob Roberts (1992)

IMDB

"Grandma felt guilty 'bout being so rich and it bothered her until the day she died. But I will take my inheritance and invest it with pride, yes invest it with pride."

If you'd asked me ten years ago what my favourite politically-themed film was, it'd probably have been Bulworth. Pretty ridiculous, fantastical, comic nonsense. But great fun and a fine distraction from real life.

Though Bob Roberts is Jack Black's first feature film (no, really) it fulfills none of the same criteria. Instead, and if you were to look at the cast list you'd immediately guess this, it's your typical gritty film of the left; the political machine is overbearingly and almost overwhelmingly powerful. Almost? You'll have to wait to the last five minutes to see.

It begs the questions a good academic essay would pose: what gives us pride? Who holds power and what difference does it make? Who is invisible and why aren't they seen? Like a machiavellian Stephen Colbert, Tim Robbins plays Devil's Advocate for not the first nor the last time in his career. And though it's easy to see through the act - the film answers its' own questions with conviction, though sometimes weakly - one worries whether people can see through actual politics, politics that dares not go as far as Roberts yet delivers the same message.

Yes, it's preaching to the converted, but I wish too that everyone engage their opponent.

(And listed on IMDB as a Comedy? Sorry, but I aint putting that as my label. Even though Sideshow Bob Roberts paid homage in Season 6 of The Simpsons. Yeah. And that my university dissertation was obviously stolen, taken back in time and used as influence for this film. And that was a barrel of 10,000 laughs, I'll tell you.)