Primary Colors | | Cast : | John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Kathy Bates, Larry Hagman | | Director : | Mike Nichols | | Studio : | Universal Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | March 20, 1998 | | DVD Released Date : | December 28, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 13, 2005 | | Summary | In twenty years, it'll be forgotten... | Content
 | A horrible actor imitating a horrible president... How appropriate! This film is about as relevant as jokes about Nixon. I don't know what this thing's selling for used, but it can't be much. My suggestion would be to watch "Tales of the City" or "Torch Song Trilogy: instead. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 29, 2005 | | Summary | Excellent Satire | Content
| This movie is an excellent satire of the 1992 Democratic Presidential Primaries. John Travolta and Emma Thompson nail (pardon the pun) Bill and Hillary Clinton with their performances as Jack and Susan Stanton, a governor from a small southern state and his overly ambitious wife. It's worth watching for Kathy Bates' perfomance alone. Bates deserved the Oscar (she was nominated.) Her comic/tragic performance is one of the best supporting performances captured on film. The character of Henry Burton is a little flat, but not because of Adrian Lester's lack of trying, he just isn't given much to work with. He is the only normal character in a sea of eccentrics, and thus isn't allowed to shine. The movie is faithful to the novel of the same name by noted political writer, Joe Klein. The rest of the supporting cast are equally great, especially Billy Bob Thornton as the James Carville-esque consultant. Larry Hagman also turns in a touching performance. This movie and the novel are musts for every political junkie. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 26, 2005 | | Summary | Interesting | Content
| Talk about a veinly camouflaged movie about a President; Turn around the situations and names, and you got President Clinton dead on!! You have this southern governor who is charismatic,handsome and married; Yet, no one knows him and he starts a campaign and slowly builds momentum and popularity; Yet, things dogs his campaign; His wife's hairstylist claims a long time affair, his black friend who owns a BBQ restaurant daughter is pregnant by him, when his main opponent has a heart attack in the middle of an on the air debate, things seems to look bad before it's begun, and his longtime manager, who has had mental challenges kills herself after a moral issue comes up; Very interesting movie; You can see Travolta take on this persona so well; Shucks you see Jack Staton(Bill Clinton) shine through and is believable; Emma Thompson as the smart yet cold wife is also quite good considering she's English; Billy Bob Thornton's role was the scene stealer; the part when he says he comes from slaves and all, it just makes you shake your head; Very good political flick; |
| Rating | | | Date | June 11, 2005 | | Summary | More Real Than A Documentary | Content
| Primary Colors is a fictionalised account of Clinton's first presidential race.
John Travolta does an excellent impersonation of Clinton.
Mike Nichols directed and Elaine May wrote the screenplay. Some of you older folk may remember their brilliant improvisational work in the 1960s.
The movie is largely about the phoniness and triviality of politics. It is that way because the public find wrestling matches interesting, and policy boring.
It is billed as a comedy, but it is a comedy is the sense that Mike Nichol's film Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf was a comedy.
Near the end of the movie Travolta does a stirring speech about how you have to be phony and smile and play these silly games for a chance to really change the country. You have to make that sacrifice.
Watch for cameos by Tony Shaloub (Monk), Charlie Rose, Larry King, Rob Reiner and Geraldo Rivera.
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| Rating | | | Date | May 22, 2005 | | Summary | Hillary | Content
| Much has been written about the miscasting of John Travolta as Bill Clinton in this movie. Not much has been written about Emma Thompson's casting.
Arguably, Emma Thompson, star of movie versions of Jane Austen stories, would be just as badly suited for the Hillary role as Travolta was for Bill's. Hillary was raised in suburban Chicago, has no apparent ties to England, and is far from genteel, by reputation.
However, Emma does a wonderful Hillary; in fact, since trashing Bill Clinton has little further purpose, Hillary-watching promises to be much more fun in the future. So who is the Hillary as seen not only by the writers but also by Emma Thompson?
She is a compassionate, calculating, flawed, hyper-intelligent individual. She is, as written in the movie, "more moral" than Bill so far as observing a code of personal conduct, but "less moral" in politics. As the movie would have it, she would hesitate a lot less than Bill in using relatively brutal political tactics.
She shows great willingness to externalize her feelings, and accepts very little personal responsibility. Like so many of us, she sees where noble ends might justify means, and expects others around her to do the same.
This is a remarkable performance. As Hillary's star continues to rise in the future (it almost certainly will), this movie might become sort of an emotional lynchpin in understanding a very complex and very fascinating person. |
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