Silver City

While Chris Cooper is very funny in his few moments as a dimwitted political candidate, this film is not a humorous satire as advertised. Instead, it’s a muddled crime mystery with major political flavoring, and the end result is convoluted and boring. The normally reliable John Sayles is trying to make some sort of grand statement regarding corporate America and its ties to politics, but his screenplay has no center, and the movie boasts too many contrasting tones. Danny Huston is an absolute dullard leading man, trying to uncover the mystery of a body floating in a lake where a gubernatorial candidate (Cooper) is filming a commercial. The mystery is by no means an involving one, and subplots involving the likes of Maria Bello and Darryl Hannah never take shape. The film feels like Sayles set out to make a murder mystery, and then added the Cooper political comedy in later to make it timelier. A true misfire from an otherwise good director.