McCain Attack Ads Redone By Famous Directors

What would happen if John McCain, his electoral fortunes sagging, hired an acclaimed film director to shoot an attack ad? That's the question answered by this satiric video that's been making the rounds today, in which McCain's message is reconstructed through the lens of auteurs like John Woo, Kevin Smith and Wes Anderson.

For my money, the results are mixed. The Woo parody has copious gunplay and a couple satisfying slo-mo moments, but I feel that John Woo would have probably given the McCain character two guns, not the Osama bin Laden character. Plus, critically: NO DOVES FLYING THROUGH THE SHOT. I mean, come on, now. The Kevin Smith parody relies too much on a weak-tea recreation of Clerks' addled, fanboy, pop-culture drone. There is an entirely insufficient level of profanity and/or donkey sex, and besides, Kevin Smith has sort of moved on to making Judd Apatow movies these days anyway. The Wes Anderson clip, however, is perfect. It's got the meticulous shot composition, the long tracking shot, the appearance of stray culture-kitsch, and, of course, the Bowie tune. That one's a keeper.

[WATCH.]

Comments

[Dynamohum]

08:22 AM on 10/24/2008

THE VIDEO S*CKS!! Awful. This is the best they could do? Absolutely disgusting­.

[xstevejx]

06:43 AM on 10/24/2008

Wow! That is one of the most lame attempts at humor I've seen in a while. It's not even funny in making fun of the directors' styles. Not even sure why someone thought to have a link to it on this usually interestin­g site!

[gr8abz]

02:53 AM on 10/24/2008

While their intentions might be good I do not like the first ad. While intelligen­t people see a deliberate and sarcastic attempt to play out a stupid cliched premise (Bin Laden likes Obama) the satire doesn't really come through enough. Sadly there are lots of dumb Americans who might actually take this film on face value.

[Tommygun264]

05:21 AM on 10/24/2008

They are making fun of the trademark styles of different directors - Woo makes his characters tough and either purely good or purely evil, either way to the extreme beyond reality.

[nanorich]

10:35 AM on 10/24/2008

The tragedy of binary thinking disorder first begins with the inability to appreciate irony.

[ClassyT]

12:27 AM on 10/24/2008

What the ham sandwich is this? For real? The proof is in the pudding; McCain is ERRATIC!!!­!

PLEASE OBAMA/BIDE­N 08

[fictioneer]

11:35 PM on 10/23/2008

If that first one was honest, it would be McCain tearing up the Constituti­on.

[Glenn1441]

05:26 AM on 10/24/2008

LOL: Excellent point. Not really impressed with this vid.

[psychmaj323]

09:57 PM on 10/23/2008

ummm, yeah these are stupid.

[mshomegirl]

07:00 PM on 10/23/2008

the wes anderson one was dead on!

[vincefango]

06:22 PM on 10/23/2008

I am saddened by all the comments of people who can't obviously tell that these are SPOOFS! The joke is that if these guys were to make a McCain attack ad...this would be the final product. These directors had NOTHING to do with the making of this SPOOF...sa­tire...in otherwords­, if you think they are funny...fe­el free to laugh...it­'s just a joke.

[blust8r]

09:44 PM on 10/23/2008

Thank you... you elitist! :)

[Tommygun264]

05:22 AM on 10/24/2008

It would help if people actually read beyond the title of the article before expressing their opinions.

[Mabo]

05:17 PM on 10/23/2008

Stupid...

[Archivist1000]

01:40 PM on 10/23/2008

I had a sad moment for Hillary the other day when she said (paraphras­ing) that nobody should
'assume' anything .... a lesson she learned the hard way, to be sure!

Hillary understand­s that while a candidate can be the frontrunne­r for a long time, at the end of the day, all that really counts, is the VOTE .... it would be a shame if Obama supporters took victory for granted, and stayed home on November 4.

GO VOTE EARLY if you can .... but VOTE ! Take NOTHING for granted, it aint over 'till it's OVER ....

GO VOTE EARLY if you can ... you or someone you love might get sick on Nov 3 or 4 and you
might be unable to go!

GO VOTE EARLY if you can .... there may be problems at the precincts .... don't be caught out !

GO VOTE EARLY if you can ... Obama has been working his butt off for 2 yrs, just for this one
DAY .... don't let him down, when he needs YOU

GO VOTE EARLY if you can .... elections are won one vote at a time, and the result lasts 4 yrs!

[geha714]

12:45 PM on 10/23/2008

Life on Mars is one of the greatest songs ever!

The face of McCain in the approval part is priceless. That's his Nov. 4th face!

[TheGuide]

12:42 PM on 10/23/2008

This is so stupid.

[Richmoves]

12:33 PM on 10/23/2008

They were all pretty flat.

[TheAlienDog]

11:26 AM on 10/23/2008

Sooooort of in the same vein as this:

http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=YRQiF0N0T­as

Meanwhile, that Wes Anderson one really was pitch perfect.

[Dynamohum]

08:32 AM on 10/24/2008

Now this if funny!!! The article's video sucked. The Director's video was absolutely disgracefu­l. Your video was amazing. The futility of sticking to one's labels. Oh the humanity.

[Fenianheart]

10:18 AM on 10/23/2008

As if McCain would save the Constituti­on.