Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Look at Political Campaigns
Review: I happened to catch this documentary as I was reading "My Life" by Bill Clinton, it brought to life all of the hustle and bustle of his first Presidental campaign.The real people involved in Clinton's first campaign for President are better characters than most actors. James Carville and George Stephanopoulos are the main focus of this film and they are true heroes. Clinton has moments where he shows all of his Southern charm but the real workhorses are Carville and Stephanopoulos who brave polls, reporters and other anti-Clinton politicians. It is an insiders view on how a campaign is won or lost behind the scenes just as easily as in front of all America. But is does make you question if the person who ends up in office is all they are cracked up to be or just a puppet pulled by the strings attached to his campaign managers. A great film to watch if you love politics or if you are reading Bill Clinton's book. It gives an honest representation of how the wheels spin and the tides change at a moments notice. This film will convince you that political campaigns are calculated almost as professionally as a war and can take on the same persona.
Rating:
Summary: Need a little more, but still great!
Review: I saw the video an was very impressed with the way the campaign was shown. There were a lot of interesting scenes with James and George, a lot of memorable times they had were depicted during the documentary.
Rating: 
Summary: hopeful
Review: I watched this 2 days ago; on the (first) day of Election 2000. Made me feel sad, unhappy and elated. Aides mimicking Gore and Perot, raging liberals trying to destroy a Bush and Sam Donaldson trying to be a good interviewer: despite 8 years its still the same stuff. And, for this viewer atleast, it still feels that the 'establishment' is and always will be Republican. Carville was fascinating: this guy could sell snow to eskimos. Cheers
Rating:
Summary: Awesome, Incredible, do not miss it...
Review: If you enjoy the political process, you MUST see this documentary. As you know, it is an insider's look at the Clinton campaign in 1992. You are a fly on the wall as the film especially focuses on the work of James Carville and George Stephanapolous. It's compelling and occasionally funny. Even more interesting, Al Gore gives one hell of a speech, and I never thought of him as an orator.
Rating:
Summary: The real West Wing
Review: Ok, so The War Room is really pre-West Wing. This is a great behind the scenes tale of how Clinton beat Bush. In fact, I would give it 5 stars if it was a bit longer. The leadership and strategy of James Carville coupled with the style and substance of George Stephanopolous led the Clinton campaign to the ultimate prize. The viewer sits in on many strategy sessions, hears a portion of phone calls with others in the Clinton camp and sees the behind the scenes maneuvering of other staff members in creating the atmosphere for Clinton's election. The other side is studied briefly, too. George Bush's words and appearances serve as a counterpoint to illustrate the reasons for the tactics of the Clinton team. A great study of a political campaign in action.
Rating:
Summary: The real West Wing
Review: Ok, so The War Room is really pre-West Wing. This is a great behind the scenes tale of how Clinton beat Bush. In fact, I would give it 5 stars if it was a bit longer. The leadership and strategy of James Carville coupled with the style and substance of George Stephanopolous led the Clinton campaign to the ultimate prize. The viewer sits in on many strategy sessions, hears a portion of phone calls with others in the Clinton camp and sees the behind the scenes maneuvering of other staff members in creating the atmosphere for Clinton's election. The other side is studied briefly, too. George Bush's words and appearances serve as a counterpoint to illustrate the reasons for the tactics of the Clinton team. A great study of a political campaign in action.
Rating:
Summary: A must for political junkies - on both sides
Review: One can certainly take issue with the merits of the candidate Carville and Stephanopolous supported (and I do), but there is no denying the immense skill with which Clinton's '92 campaign was run. Watching Pennebaker and Hegedus' work, I was reminded of how difficult it was to be a Republican in 1992 (there would be better days to come). The War Room not only made it crystal clear why to me why, but reliving that campaign through the eyes of the opposition really reminded me of what it takes to win a campaign. The War Room captures both the thrill of the campaign (doesn't matter who's winning) and its intricacies. A segment from the Democratic Convention pits Harold Ickes against an operative who argues for distributing thousands of handpainted signs versus pre-printed blue placards is a hilarious reminder of what it's really like in the smoke-filled room. Democrats will see this film to relive the moment of their greatest glory this side of JFK. Republicans need to see it for a more important reason: know your enemies.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Documentary on Electoral Politics
Review: One of my all time favorite documentaries, The War Room depicts the behind the scene machinations of Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign. The documentary was originally supposed to be about the romance between chief Clinton strategist, James ( the "Ragin' Cajun") Carville, and Marlee Matilin, who, at the time, was a chief advisor to the George Bush campaign. But documentaries, like politics, have a way of taking on a life of their own, and The War Room turned into a cinema verité examination of a presidential election at work, through the eyes of the master, Carville, and George Stephanopoulos, Clinton's press secretary, with whom the audience identifies, idealist that he is. The War Room gives one an opportunity to see up close the salesmanship, competitiveness, sincerity, frustration, and the unrelenting pace of king-making in politics. Carville and Stephanopoulos' work is exhilarating and exhausting. They are men of conviction, and have the battle-scars to prove it. As we watch the Convention showmanship, the strategies, the debates, and the cabin-fever come election day, we find ourselves knuckling down with our two guides and crossing our fingers as the results come in. Hegedus and Pennebaker do a remarkable job of making the audience feel part and parcel of the Clinton campaign. Even more impressive, election strategy successes and failures come across as well. We see the Clinton strategists impressive "quick-response" system in action, as they do battle with the media over the Gennifer Flowers nightmare, and we see what at first seems to be a promising lead on the Bush campaign financing their sign-printing with foreign laborers fall off the nightly
news schedule. Nobility and venality can coexist in the most talented and altruistic of people, but cannot be painlessly reconciled in the eyes of those who follow and admire them. This is a lesson lightly touched on by The War Room, and beaten over our heads by eight years that followed. The War Room was an Academy Award nominee in the category of "Best Documentary."
Rating: 
Summary: So What?
Review: Perhaps I was looking for something that wasn't advertised, but I didn't find The War Room to be a particularly revealing look at Clinton's 1992 campaign. The advertised thrust that they changed the way campaigns were won is lost because the movie provides no point of reference to other ways to run a campaign. It's pretty obvious that Carville is aware of the camera (though Stephanopolous seems more genuine) and the only time we get a real insider's look at the campaign is when they discover that Bush campaign materials were being printed in Brazil and attempt to orchestrate network coverage. That's what I was looking for in The War Room and it dissipates as quickly as it materializes. Carville's performance, given to rants and explitives, shows either 1) he is a very enigmatic figure or 2) cultivating an image of being a very enigmatic figure. Someone that not only gets Clinton elected but re-elected simply cannot be that impulsive. Finally, it ends too soon. Stephanopolous' enthusiasm at Clinton's election didn't make it through the Clinton administration, and this might suggest dissolutionment that would be very interesting juxtaposed with his enthusiasm on election night (maybe room for a sequel?) In the end, The War Room ends up being voyeurism for political junkies without the experience to know what really goes on in a campaign and with insufficient context to answer the question posed: Why was Clinton/Gore 92 a different kind of campaign? It was, but The War Room doesn't tell us why it was.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful From Either Viewpoint
Review: Regardless of your personal ideology, this film is a must-watch for any political junkie. You may watch it with joy and cheering, or maybe you'll hate the ending. It doesn't matter, the real story is the interaction between people, not the point of view. What makes this unusual and significant is the groundbreaking style of Carville & Co. As he correctly points out at the end, "We changed the way political campaigns are run." Nothing could be more correct. Anyone looking to gain insight to campaigns, the 1992 election specifically, or just viewing from a historical perspective will enjoy this fine film.
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