The Campaign

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  • Opened August 10, 2012 
  • 1 hr 25 min
  • R | Crude Sexual Content, Brief Nudity and Language
  • Parents: Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+. More on child suitability

  • When long-term congressman Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) commits a major public gaffe before an upcoming election, a pair of ultra-wealthy CEOs plot to put up a rival candidate and gain influence over their North Carolina district. Their man: naïve Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), director of the local Tourism Center. At first, Marty appears to be the unlikeliest possible choice but, with the help of his new benefactors' support, a cutthroat campaign manager and his family's political connections, he soon becomes a contender who gives the charismatic Cam plenty to worry about. As Election Day closes in, the two are locked in a dead heat, with insults quickly escalating to injury until all they care about is burying each other, in this mud-slinging, back-stabbing, home-wrecking comedy from "Meet the Parents" director Jay Roach that takes today's political circus to its logical next level. Full synopsis

  • Cast: Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott, Katherine La Nasa, Sarah Baker, John Lithgow, Dan Aykroyd, Brian Cox, Karen Maruyama, Grant S. Goodman, Kya Haywood, Randall Cunningham, Madison Wolfe
  • Director: Jay Roach
  • Genres: Comedy

What's the Buzz?

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Critics say So-So
50 out of 100
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Fan Reviews

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Campaign review

by k-cross

We thought this film was very funny and we would recommend it to others. Will Ferrell and Zack Galifianakis are a real hoot in this movie; although I wouldn't recommend you take kids under 17. Some...

Must Go!
Surprised

by vjcvinny3

I did not expect much from this movie except some jokes and a couple laughs. The movie ending up being hilarious and the plot was also decent. The movie kept you guessing and even touched a little...

Must Go!
Intelligent, Pratfall, Gross-out, Over-The-Top Hilarious And Then Some.

by Alon Patterson

It would seem this movie is playing to mixed audience reviews but for my two cents worth, I found it incredibly smart and funny. I began laughing less than a minute in and except for a brief spot...

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Critic Reviews

91
Entertainment Weekly
| Owen Gleiberman

Perhaps the best thing about the film is that it doesn't let those other players in the political process off the hook: the voters. Read full review

75
San Francisco Chronicle
| Amy Biancolli

The resultant spoofery is nonpartisan, or at least vague - we never learn which of these flesh-pressing idiots is the Republican and which is the Democrat - and raucous in its send-ups of the moral, financial and sexual peccadilloes of the common political animal. Read full review

63
Rolling Stone
| Peter Travers

The jokes never go deep, the toothless bites at the system leave no marks. It's only the wild-card energy of Ferrell and Galifianakis that keeps you on the ticket. Read full review

63
USA Today
| Claudia Puig

"It's a mess" is the campaign slogan of Marty Huggins, played by Galifianakis. He's referring to the state of government. But he might as well be describing the movie in which he co-stars. Read full review

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Zach Galifianakis as Marty Huggins and Will Ferrell as Cam Brady in "The Campaign."