Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

20 American Carol, An
xx Australia
26 Babylon A.D.
24 Bangkok Dangerous
41 Beverly Hills Chihuahua
45 Blindness
57 Body of Lies
67 Bolt
63 Burn After Reading
58 City of Ember
15 College
82 Dark Knight, The
43 Death Race
15 Disaster Movie
43 Eagle Eye
58 Express, The
49 Family That Preys, The
57 Flash of Genius
36 Fly Me to the Moon
54 Get Smart
72 Ghost Town
28 Haunting of Molly Hartley. The
57 High School Musical 3: Senior Year
55 House Bunny, The
35 How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
65 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
57 Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
73 Kung Fu Panda
46 Lakeview Terrace
52 Longshots, The
53 Lucky Ones, The
61 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
51 Mamma Mia!
31 Max Payne
43 Meet Dave
37 Miracle at St. Anna
35 Mirrors
34 My Best Friend's Girl
64 Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
39 Nights in Rodanthe
45 Pride and Glory
58 Quantum of Solace
53 Quarantine
36 Righteous Kill
53 Rocker, The
59 Role Models
19 Saw V
57 Secret Life of Bees, The
49 Sex Drive
63 Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The
49 Soul Men
36 Space Chimps
35 Star Wars: The Clone Wars
47 Swing Vote
60 Traitor
71 Tropic Thunder
56 Twilight
70 Vicky Cristina Barcelona
56 W.
93 WALL-E
27 Women, The
47 X-Files: I Want to Believe, The
56 Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

xx All of Us
53 Allah Made Me Funny: Live in Concert
57 Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela, The
64 Appaloosa
69 Ashes of Time Redux
68 August Evening
xx B.O.H.I.C.A.
62 Baghead
84 Ballast
54 Battle in Seattle
xx Beer for My Horses
75 Betrayal - Nerakhoon, The
xx Billy: The Early Years
66 Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
56 Bottle Shock
55 Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The
50 Breakfast with Scot
61 Brick Lane
43 Call and Response
62 Changeling
49 Children of Huang Shi, The
47 Choke
46 Choose Connor
84 Christmas Tale, A
41 Cthulhu
81 Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
xx Dostana
62 Duchess, The
46 Dukes, The
63 Eden
xx Eden Lake
66 Elegy
46 Elephant King, The
80 Encounters at the End of the World
26 Everybody Wants to Be Italian
64 Fall, The
69 Fear(s) of the Dark
26 Filth and Wisdom
28 Fireproof
52 First Basket, The
67 Flow: For Love of Water
37 Forever Strong
69 Frontrunners
82 Frozen River
43 Gardens of the Night
73 Girl Cut in Two, A
73 Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
54 Good Dick
30 Guitar, The
84 Happy-Go-Lucky
44 Henry Poole is Here
31 Hounddog
27 House of the Sleeping Beauties
47 How About You
54 Humboldt County
72 I Served the King of England
70 I.O.U.S. A
40 Igor
64 In Search of a Midnight Kiss
78 I've Loved You So Long
63 JCVD
41 Johnny Got His Gun
xx Just Buried
62 Kabluey
63 Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
25 Lake City
78 Last Mistress, The
81 Let the Right One In
xx Lower Learning
63 Man Named Pearl, A
89 Man on Wire
xx Mary
xx Matador, The
62 Mister Foe
84 Momma's Man
51 Morning Light
79 Moving Midway
33 My Name Is Bruce
59 Nights and Weekends
73 Obscene
40 Other End of the Line, The
34 Otto; or Up with Dead People
40 Passengers
xx Phoebe in Wonderland
55 Ping Pong Playa
75 Pool, The
77 Pray the Devil Back to Hell
82 Rachel Getting Married
56 Religulous
32 Repo! The Genetic Opera
xx Roadside Romeo
53 RocknRolla
56 Save Me
74 Secret, A
45 Shoot on Sight
57 Sixty Six
85 Slumdog Millionaire
56 Special
58 Splinter
79 Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
67 Synecdoche, New York
82 Tell No One
64 Thousand Years of Good Prayers, A
57 Towelhead
72 Transsiberian
83 Trouble the Water
43 Tru Loved
83 U2 3D
61 Universe of Keith Haring
84 Up the Yangtze
52 Virtual JFK: Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived
79 Visitor, The
61 Wackness, The
59 We Are Wizards
55 What Just Happened?
66 When Did You Last See Your Father?

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Swing Vote
Touchstone Pictures (Disney)


6.3

based on 30 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 18 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for language

Starring Kevin Costner, Dennis Hopper, Nathan Lane, Kelsey Grammer, Stanley Tucci, George Lopez, Madeline Carroll, Paula Patton, Judge Reinhold, Willie Nelson, Mare Winningham, and Richard Petty

Swing Vote follows the story of Bud Johnson, an apathetic, beer-slinging, lovable loser, who is coasting through a life that has passed him by. The one bright spot is his precocious, over-achieving twelve-year-old daughter Molly. She takes care of both of them, until one mischievous moment on Election Day, when she accidentally sets off a chain of events which culminates in the election coming down to one vote... her dad's. (Touchstone Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Comedy
WRITTEN BY:	Joshua Michael Stern Jason Richman
DIRECTED BY:	Joshua Michael Stern
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: August 1, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Swing Vote marries mild satire with Capra-esque melodrama in a formula that works surprisingly well.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie is a genial comedy, but it has significant undertones. Like some of Frank Capra's pictures.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The film seems like a loose and uncredited updating of "The Great Man Votes," a more serious 1939 entry.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Swing Vote is messy and its targets are relatively safe. But its aim is true. And Costner's performance hits the bull's-eye.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

The thing is far too absurd and broadly played for its own good.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The mix of comedy and drama is winning; Costner couldn't be better, and the little girl is a find.

Variety Justin Chang

Picture's comic smarts and affecting daddy-daughter drama provide a sturdy platform for its heartfelt advocacy of informed voting and responsible citizenship.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Costner does something difficult: In the middle of a tepid comic whirlpool, he finds the humorous aspect of inertia.

USA Today Claudia Puig

This reasonably entertaining movie falters by trying to be both a dark comedy and a sentimental treatise on family and country.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

This one may be soft and derivative. But the actors establish a groove and stay on-message.

Empire Ian Nathan

This light satire is unlikely to influence the forthcoming election, but Costner's in fine fettle.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

If the title hadn't already been taken by another equally strained recent comedy, the new Kevin Costner vehicle could have been dubbed "Idiocracy."

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Dusted off and brought up to date, it's still the same old Capracorn – minus the populist pizzazz he might have provided.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

A good-ol'-boy civics lesson that's too scattered to achieve its predictable goals.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

This is a killer idea for a political satire, and screenwriters Jason Richman and Joshua Michael Stern come close to realizing its farcical potential.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

As in so many essentially childish movies, it's an actual child who's always the smartest pants in the room.

Washington Post Laura Yao

The film's not nearly as idiotic as its trailer made it seem, because it's not really about voting, or politics.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Everyone, including the candidates, will recognize the importance of civic duty, leaving Swing Vote to end with swelling music and uplifting speechifying but on a completely unsatisfactory note.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Costner (who's also a producer) plays to his middle-aged strengths in a role that exaggerates male weaknesses.

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

The longer Swing Vote hangs around, the more engaging it becomes. It's twice as smart as you have any reason to expect but still only half as smart as you wish it were.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

A mainstream, eager-to-please, relatively generic endeavor, not an auteurist showcase.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

A maddeningly indistinct picture.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

This potentially sharp working-class fantasy proves strangely unsatisfying.

Slate Dana Stevens

Swing Vote isn't exactly a toothless political satire. It's something worse: a satire with dentures.

Time Richard Corliss

Swing Vote falls from agreeable fable into wan satire.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Hopelessly muddled film cries out for the firm hand of a dyed-in-the-wool cynic like Billy Wilder, who would have put some teeth in its jabs at amoral politicians and blindly ambitious journalists.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Swing Vote is a satire that's afraid to satirize.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Swing Vote may muster a few easy laughs, but the film is no contender.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Paints a surprisingly sour portrait of nearly all its characters, so much so that even the final-reel redemption rings hollow and forced.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Brain-dead political satire/tear-jerker.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.3 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Rev. Rikard gave it a4:
This film insults the political savy of sotherners, while melting the political process down into an oversimplified, sappy stew. Costner's "Bubba" gets old within ten minutes, which is about as long as the film should be.

Ally W gave it an8:
I did not have high expectations, but my wife and I loved this movie. Despite the outrageous premise, the movie was smart, funny, and had moving moments of profound depth. Good performances by the actresses playing Bud's daughter and ex-wife.

Jess E gave it an8:
Whether you like the movie or not depends on whether you like Costner or not. In this film he delivers a charming performance along with newcomer 12yr old Madeline Carroll. The film is funniest when it depicts the two campaigns trying to fit into Costner's character political opinions. No new ground broken here but it is a delightfullight hearted comedy that is worth seeing if you can break away from seeing the current Special effects action flicks over and over and over and over again. Don't people ever get tired of seeing a film so many times so soon. Evidently not. Catch Swing vote. It deserves an audience.

Evan C. gave it a7:
This was not a great movie, but it certainly was enjoyable with excellent acting. I think the critics were too harsh. Admittedly it is unplausible, but certainly not more unplausible than a lot of other inane action and sophomoric slapstick flicks this summer, which the critics seem to like better.

Bob W gave it a7:
Too long and with an annoying soundtrack, but I still liked it. The little girl is terrific.

Red gave it a3:
This movie was a swing and a miss. Between the occansional chuckles and debating whether or not to refill my popcorn I was happy when the movie ended. It really was rather dull which is upsetting because Kevin Costner can do so much better. As for little Madeline Carroll I'd like to say she stole the show... but really their wasn't much of a show to steal. One of the biggest let downs of the movie came towards the end with an unexpected crescendo of emotion. It comes out of no where and feels so disconnected to the rest of the film. To sum it up simply save and your money and don't go to the theatre. Better yet if you do make it out to the local cinema see a real work of art such as "The Dark Knight."

Colin G. gave it a9:
Great premise, good film. A Capra-esque story that will appeal to those who like a little hokey and heart-warming in their entertainment. For those who complain this is unrealistic or absurd I would ask if it would improve the realism if Costner ran around in a latex bat suit.

Swing Vote Touchstone Pictures (Disney)

Swing Vote
Touchstone Pictures (Disney)