`Primary Colors’ offers fun but sensationalist view of contemporary politics

“Primary Colors.” Directed by Mike Nichols. Written by Elaine May, based on the novel by Anonymous (Joe Klein). Running time: 140 minutes. Rated R for strong language and adult content.

Just 10 minutes into “Primary Colors,” Mike Nichols’ entertaining film about a gluttonous, philandering, foul-mouthed politician from the Deep South who wants to become our next president, Gov. Jack Stanton (John Travolta) proves himself to be a compelling candidate.

He’s pressed the flesh with his public, smiled sincerely for the cameras, shot off some interesting ideas, wept openly at an adult illiteracy program — and had sex with the program’s bumbling coordinator, a woman who stumbled out of Stanton’s hotel room flustered yet aglow, rumpled yet satisfied, her vote for this charmingly attentive man already secure in her still-quivering heart.

Based in large part on Bill Clinton’s run for the 1992 Democratic nomination, Joe Klein’s best-selling novel ignited upon its 1996 release a great media hurricane, the winds of which — Clinton’s alleged rampant infidelity and the fearfully complex conundrum of his moral character — are still blowing today.

As adapted by Elaine May, the film is faithful to the novel in that it remains fueled by Klein’s strong sense of betrayal. Klein, himself an early Clinton supporter, lost his faith in Clinton when Clinton’s philandering and questionable ethics surfaced like so much bad gas.

His book and this film both acknowledge that while Clinton’s heart may be in the right place when it comes to social issues, his personal judgments are quite often tawdry, immoral and arguably unfit for a man in his position.

The film’s central figure, however, is not the governor or his ballsy wife, Susan (Emma Thompson), but Henry Burton (Adrian Lester), a stoic young idealist who is not so much a character as he is a device: Henry is the encapsulation of the American public. He wants what we want — a decent president who won’t disappoint. But Henry has been created in order to be disappointed; his ideals, set so high, are unreachable. Indeed, he wants from his president what no one can offer: complete moral perfection.

Poor Henry. One assumes he’ll always be disappointed.

Much of the film’s punch — and there is considerable punch — comes from those characters Henry observes, including Richard Jemmings (Billy Bob Thornton), the James Carville figure; and Libby Holden (Kathy Bates), the tough-talking lesbian who emerges as the film’s most human, moral and tragic character.

But the film’s best characters, naturally, are Jack and Susan Stanton. What a gross, pathetic spectacle they are. While it’s not clear whether they love each other, it is clear that they need each other to accomplish their lofty political goals. Jack and Susan work in a moral cavity where love is expressed for the cameras with tightly clenched hands. But the moment those cameras are switched off, as they are in one memorable scene, those hands are quickly snatched away, wanting to grasp, one senses, loaded pistols, sharp knives or heavy metal pipes perfect for striking.

As fun and as raucous as “Primary Colors” is, the film makes one grave mistake: It does not allow Stanton to show the intellectual prowess for which Clinton is known, suggesting that this film, like the book, is more interested in caricature than in truth. This is sensationalism dependent on our disillusionment. But to be truly disillusioned, we first must believe that Jack Stanton is something special, the man with all the right answers, before being hit with the ridiculousness of his hidden life. Instead, what we get is a whorish, pot-bellied fool with a borderline eating disorder who loves his jelly-filled donuts every bit as much as he loves his sweet-talking bimbos.

Where is the man responsible for bringing the country back on track? Not in this film. Grade: B+

“THE WINTER GUEST.” Directed by Alan Rickman. Written by Rickman and Sharman Macdonald. Running time: 110 minutes. Rated R for language and adult content. Showing nightly, March 23-26, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville.

Arms pumping, fur coat shimmering, eyes fixed and staring in watery sockets, British actress Phyllida Law proves in the opening moments of “The Winter Guest” to be the ultimate spokeswoman for Ensure, the dietary supplement that allegedly gives kick and verve to the geriatric set.

As Elspbeth, Law is a tightly wound powerhouse first seen storming across the bleak, frozen terrain of an unidentified coastal town in Scotland. Her destination? The home of her daughter, Florence (Emma Thompson, Law’s real-life daughter), a professional photographer deeply in mourning after the death of her husband to an unspecified disease.

Adapted from the play by Sharman Macdonald, “The Winter Guest” is a film that focuses on the tension that divides these two women while also, through its eccentric cast of ancillary characters, focusing on five stages of life: prepubescence, pubescence, middle age, old age and death. It is a structureless film about the absolute necessity of companionship that reveals itself as slowly and as delicately as its characters reveal themselves, a unique quality that makes it as rewarding as its rich performances. This is a very good film of great humor that understands the complexities of the human experience while never pretending to know what each individual experience is supposed to mean. Still, in its observations, it offers simple answers to difficult questions that resonate with the sometimes elusive truth. Grade: B+

Christopher Smith, a writer and critic who lives in Brewer, reviews films each Monday in the NEWS.