Blue State (2007)

"Blue State" is set after the John Kerry versus George Bush election of 2004. Our hero, John Logue (Breckin Meyer) a staunch democrat vows to move to Canada as a protest if Bush wins. A group called Marry-a-Canadian.ca contacts him and urges him to join them in Winnipeg. So the move to Canada begins.The film is predominantly a road trip. John seeks a driving partner for the trip and finds Chloe (Anna Paquin). There is of course a romance sub-plot between the two. The genius of this film is in the writing of the characters. He's devoted to the left-wing political cause; she's much more mysterious. She guesses what he wants to hear, and he believes her. Although John is extremely liberal, the film isn't. They cleverly wrote in flaws to his character, and although the right-wing characters were more soft-spoken they usually got the last word. People from across the spectrum should be able to appreciate the film. Being liberal myself, I connected to John instantly and his weaknesses just made him that much more endearing to me.The road trip part of the film is extremely well written and moves at a reasonable pace. The Marry-a-Canadian part is just plain weird but luckily they don't spend much time in Winnipeg. And the best part of this film is that it actually has a resolution. I highly recommend "Blue State" to all the John Logues out there.

The people who ripped into the movie for portraying a one-dimensional Canada or taking potshots at Bush are missing the point.Canada as a locale in the movie is merely a convenient shorthand-- it could have been Mexico or the UK or Australia, the point is that it's a foreign country. Calling 'Blue State' "anti-Canadian propaganda" is a bit like calling South Park's portrayal of egghead Canadians "anti-Canadian propaganda".And, it may be just me, but I felt that 'Blue State' pokes more fun at the Democrat zealot than of Dubya-- for a considerable portion of the movie, and when he's on tirade-mode, it seems to me that John is portrayed as a sad, almost ridiculous figure.That aside, the leads are believable and exhibit romantic chemistry, and make their characters likable. Especially Breckin Meyer-- as written, John is a self-important, uptight person for most of the film, but Meyer imbues his character with humanity.Overall a mild political satire and competent, heartfelt romantic road trip.

I really wanted to like this film -- it is a great idea! However, the comic undertones of the film quickly gave way to a downbeat drama and the portrayal of one of the most dysfunctional families ever seen on film.My enjoyment of the movie dwindled as the film went on and on and on. It wasn't really the acting (at least not of the main characters), or even the directing, but rather the writing that was at fault. The script is heavy handed and unbelievable.On top of this, the writer should have at least visited Canada, or checked out some facts about the country before writing so egregiously. The movie makes it look like Winnipeg is a day's drive from Washington state; Canada border guards do not ask Americans to see their passports at the border - they ask for identification (Social Security number, driver's license, etc.); Winnipeg does not enjoy Chinooks (where weather changes 30 degrees in a day) that's Calgary; By 2004 when this film takes place you would have a hard time finding any Canadian boasting of universal health care; and you really don't hear that tall poppy story up here -- that is a story Americans use to describe Canadians, not a story Canadians use to describe themselves.Overall, this was a missed opportunity for a very funny, poignant and timely film that really missed its mark. The plot was good, the main actors good, but the actual writing was very clumsy.

I saw this at the Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck, Michigan.Funny movie about a political activist John Logue (played by Breckin Meyer) who makes a drunken promise that if George Bush is elected president, he will move to Canada. After John Kerry is defeated by George Bush, it seems like Logue's life has lost its purpose. Finally, after his friends insist that he keeps his promise, Logue decides to take the trip to Canada. To do so he places an ad for a road partner and chooses the mysterious Chloe (Anna Paquin).In case you didn't notice by the synopsis, this film does rip on President Bush quite often, so don't be upset if you're from a certain political party, you know what was in store before seeing the film. It started out very well but I felt that it lost some steam in the second half and never really recovered. It's still a good movie, but I wish it would have kept its same charm and comedy that it had in its first half.Breckin Meyer and Anna Paquin were very good together, they were well cast and did a good job acting. However, there are times where it seemed the film was written by someone the day after the 2004 presidential elections. It probably would've been a better film if some of the dialogue didn't sound like people debating on CNN.It's a nice film and worth looking out for, but just remember to read what it's about before seeing it because it's not for everyone.