Susan Granger’s review of “The Congressman” (Shadow Distribution)
This timely, gently satirical tale of a disillusioned politician coping with a public relations fiasco as he goes through a mid-life crisis is too tepid to ignite much excitement.
A recently divorced Vietnam vet with a drinking problem, U.S. Congressman Charlie Winship (Treat Williams) often puts his feet up on his desk, remaining seated during the recitation of Pledge of Allegiance on the House floor each morning.
One day, he’s surreptitiously caught on video, igniting a nasty media-driven controversy. That’s amplified when, facing a demonstration by his constituents, Charlie explains that the Pledge was created, not by the Founding Fathers, but by Frank Bellamy, a socialist Christian minister, in 1892. For years, as children recited it, they raised their arms in a Nazi-like salute.
To complicate matters, Charlie’s ambitious Chief of Staff, Jared Barnes (Ryan Merriman), is secretly collaborating with a conniving lobbyist (George Hamilton) to usurp Charlie’s job.
Meanwhile, back in Charlie’s home state of Maine, there’s an ominous off-shore crisis as the livelihood of a remote fishing community is threatened by corporate fisheries.
When they visit beleaguered Catatonk Island, Charlie is befriended by local librarian Rae Blanchard (Elizabeth Marvel), who invites him home for a lobster dinner, while Jared learns more about lobster fishing – and himself.
Working with director Jared Martin, writer/co-director Robert Mrazek utilizes his own experience, representing a Long Island, New York, congressional district for a decade before retiring from the House of Representatives in 1993 at age 48.
Mrazek was intrigued by the contrast between the partisanship in Washington today – epitomized by Congress’s inability to compromise – and the culture on the island, where about 75 people live year-round. Whether or not they like one another, they know they have to work together to survive.
Unfortunately, Mrazek’s cinematic inexperience results in formulaic plotting and stilted dialogue, which dilutes the dazzling visual charm of Monhegan Island.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Congressman” is a schmaltzy 6, simplistic and sincere, “slowing down to the rhythm of the sea.”
