Swing Vote DVD Review

Swing Vote

DVD Review
Touchstone Pictures
Released: January 13, 2009

Swing Vote is set to hit the DVD format, telling the story of an ordinary guy who ends up making a big impact in an election.

Swing Vote stars none other than Kevin Costner, who plays the role of your average Joe basically, a very loveable figure that will certainly appear to the masses.

Costner plays the role of Bud Johnson, average Joe who works in New Mexico and is an egg inspector.

He is a single father and has a young daughter (Madeline Carroll).  He is having a rough time with this job as he often forgets things he is supposed to do for his daughter.

His daughter is working on a project for school based on election day and voting, the only issue is her dad forgets to go and vote.

Needless to say, it ends up being concluded that he did vote, but that his vote was not counted for some reason.  He is then given 10 days to cast his vote which will be the swing vote to decide the President of the United States.

This is far-fetched in every sense of the word, but as you could figure he is now a popular guy.

There is a lot of humor to be had here as the film is very entertaining, both Costner and Carroll play great roles here.  Due to these two performances alone, I definitely recommend this film, as it provides some great family entertainment.

The video transfer on the DVD format is about what you would expect for a film such as this, as it is presented in 2.40:1 and is extremely clear.  It is not going to amaze you, but it is not meant to either.  Colors are clear enough, and the overall presentation is about as good as you can expect on DVD.

As for the audio mix, this is a very front-heavy track as expected and is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1  The dialogue remains crisp and clear throughout.

The extras included here are pretty average to be honest, starting out with audio commentary by writer/director Joshua Michael Stern and writer Jason Richman.

Going beyond that, there is also a set of deleted and extended scenes, as well as a making-of featurette which is actually pretty short.

I enjoyed Swing Vote a great deal on the DVD format and would definitely recommend it for fans of Kevin Costner, or anyone who wants a good enjoyable family film.  The story is very solid, the cast is impressive, and there is a lot of entertainment value to be had.  Well-worth checking out on DVD.

Film: 8.0 Kevin Costner and his young co-star are great, making for a very entertaining film.

Video: 8.8 The film looks very clear throughout on DVD.

Audio: 8.2 About what you would expect, a bit too front-heavy though.

Extras: 7.0 The extras are decent, but nothing above average.

Final Score: 8.2

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