Man of the Year (2006 film)
Man of the Year is a 2006 American political thriller comedy-drama film directed and written by Barry Levinson, produced by James G. Robinson, and starring Robin Williams. The film also features Christopher Walken, Laura Linney, Lewis Black, and Jeff Goldblum. In the film Williams portrays Tom Dobbs, the host of a comedy/political talk show, based loosely on the real-life persona of Jon Stewart. With an offhand remark, he prompts four million people to e-mail their support; then he decides to campaign for President. The film was released theatrically on October 13, 2006, and was filmed in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, and in parts of Washington, D.C.Man of the Year received mostly negative reviews and it earned $41.2 million on a $20 million budget.
Plot
Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams) is a comedian of a satirical talk show who is able to tap into people's frustrations with the sharply divided, special interest-driven political climate. Specifically, he makes fun of the American two-party system. During his warm-up act, an audience member suggests that he run for president. At first, Dobbs laughs off the idea, but following a popular groundswell of support, later announces on the air that he will stand as a candidate. Through his efforts, he gets on the ballot in 13 states and participates in one of the national debates with the Democratic incumbent, President Kellogg, and Republican U.S. Senator Mills.
Person of the Year
Person of the Year or Man of the Year is an award given to an individual by any type of organization. Most often, it is given by a newspaper or other news outlet to annually recognize a public person. Such awards have typically been awarded to one person, near or after the end of a calendar year. The awardee is usually someone widely known via a news media's audience. A local newspaper typically gives a Person of the Year award to a local individual. However, prominent Person of the Year awards have been given to persons well beyond the scope of a given news market, to animals (Secretariat), to two or more persons in the event of a tie, and to groups of persons whose membership is not clear (Ebola fighters). Also the award is presented annually by some organizations but may be a one-off or occasional event for others.
The award can be facetious or serious. The chosen person is usually someone who has been notably influential or prominent during the year and could also be a hero or villain. Unlike most awards, it is externally oriented; the award is given to someone who is not a member and may have no association with the awarding organization. A local award's selection process can be seen to be politically influenced, as dramatized in a "Parks and Recreation" television show episode.
Man of the Year (1995 film)
Man of the Year (1995) is a mockumentary written and directed by and starring Dirk Shafer. The film is a fictionalized account of Shafer's reign as Playgirl magazine's 1992 "Man of the Year" and his struggle with reconciling his public persona as a sex symbol to women with his identity as a gay man. Shafer combines mock interviews (both with some of the actual people involved and with actors standing in for the actual people) with archive footage from Shafer's appearances on talk shows like Donahue, The Maury Povich Show and The Jerry Springer Show (along with an early appearance on Dance Fever) and recreations of events like his Playgirl photoshoots, his "fantasy date" with a Playgirl reader and the death of his friend Pledge Cartwright (played by actor Bill Brochtrup) of an AIDS-related illness to relate the story.
Critical response
Variety gave Man of the Year a generally favorable review, calling the film "pleasant to watch and intermittently clever." However, it notes that Shafer's writing is "uneven" and that the film's "structure is a bit repetitive."The New Yorker largely concurred, noting that Shafer "keep[s] condescension at bay with some nice comic spins" but finding the use of the death of Shafer's friend as Shafer's catalyst for coming out to be self-serving. The San Francisco Chronicle was far harsher, deriding the film as a "vanity" production and complaining "There's no shape to Man of the Year, no forward movement. Man of the Year doesn't even have the benefit of being hip."The New York Times, however, found the film "gently satirical" with the use of real clips from Shafer's various talk show appearances creating a "tone of vertiginous loopiness." The Times also saw the metaphor in Shafer's experience to the pressure that society put on gay people to pretend to be straight.
Man of the Year (1971 film)
Man of the Year (Italian: Homo Eroticus, also known as Husband, Italian Style) is a 1971 Italian commedia sexy all'italiana directed by Marco Vicario. The film was a blockbuster at the Italian box office.
