Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 08/19/2008 Run time: 116 minutes
At the height of the 2000 election season, CBS anchor Dan Rather quipped, "The presidential race is crackling like a hickory fire." Director Jay Roach (Austin Powers) recaptures that blaze in his smart HBO docudrama about the thriller in Palm Beach County. Written by actor Danny Strong, Recount bounces between the Sunshine State, Gore's Tennessee headquarters, and Bush's Texas stomping grounds. Gore adviser Ron Klain (an excellent Kevin Spacey) provides a privileged window into those weeks when the American public first became familiar with obscure terms like "hanging chad." (Since Klain has an ax to grind with the vice president, neither he nor Gore appear completely heroic.) First, the Democratic candidate pulls ahead; then he falls behind. Just as he prepares to concede, Klain's colleague, Michael Whouley (Denis Leary), spots an anomaly in the vote count, and the race continues. Enter eccentric Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris (Laura Dern, a certain Emmy nominee), who orders a recount, and former Secretaries of State Warren Christopher (John Hurt) and James Baker III (Tom Wilkinson), who oversee a process that ends up in the Supreme Court (where Ed Begley Jr.'s David Boies represents Gore). Produced by the late Sydney Pollack, who originally intended to direct, Recount skillfully integrates news footage with dark comedy, most provided by the foul-mouthed Whouley and Bush adviser Ben Ginsberg (Bob Balaban), who's still livid about JFK's victory over Nixon. If the Democrats come across as more sympathetic, the Republicans come across as more colorful--and strategically effective. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
fairly even-handed history:
I sort of expected this movie to have a lot of built-in commentary favoring the Democratic side, and while it has been pointed out that the movie does tend to focus a bit more on the Democratic characters and thus sort of favors them, I found the movie to be fairly well-balanced. There are certainly many accusations that came out of the Florida scene in the 2000 election, and while many of them were dealt with in the movie, overall, the movie doesn't devolve into a conspiracy theory. The biggest impression... more info
The Dirty Details Of A Stolen Election:
It was a decisive moment in American History but most voters had no idea what was really going on behind the scenes. Recount is a fascinating retelling of the 2000 Presidential election as it twisted and turned through the country's fastest changing state - Florida. The movie depicts what appears to be the last grip of Jim Crow politics as it played out through dimpled chads, incomplete election laws and in the face of a radical conservative uprising. While many fine actors give excellent performances the... more info
Still Devastating To Watch After All These Years!:
You know how it ends, but you watch every frame. I have often said it was more than destiny that denied Al Gore the chance to be President. Yes, it closed one door (politics) and opened another (environmental awareness) but the outcome was a disaster not only for the US but the world. The damage that has been done since 2000 can never be undone. The American lives lost overseas in wars we can never win. The financial chaos that is putting hundreds of thousands into shelters after losing their homes. And no... more info
There's something rotten in the state of Florida . . .:
This movie is incredibly painful to watch. Anyone who lived through the 2000 election will remember what happened in broad strokes -- corruption, possible fraud, extreme partisanship and cronyism, and disenfranchisement on a scale that creates fond nostalgia for Jim Crow. However those broad strokes are here shown in rage-inducing, fully restored technicolor detail as every single step of a process that resulted in what some people still see as a stolen election is put on display. Old wounds die hard,... more info
