Rating: 
Summary: I normally only write book reviews, but . . .
Review: Bob Roberts is the fictional documentary about an ultra-conservative folk-singer (I can't figure that one either!) who decides to run for Senate in 1990. Obviousley this movie is not supposed to show what politicians and campaigns are REALLY like (so calm down people!). It exagerates the qualities of politicians and voters to prove a point. ...this movie not only makes a mockery of the ultra-conservative agenda, but it also is a slap in the face of you all -- the voting public. Bob Roberts is clearly a sleazy, shallow, and deceptive character, but the public cannot seem to see past him on the surface level. Theycontinue sporting their red, white, and blue colors while mindlessly humming his comicly absurd folk tunes. While it IS grossly exagerated, Bob Roberts does suggest some REAL trends in American politics, conservative and liberal. Robert's appearance on the Saturday night entertainment show (meant to represent SNL) is no doubt a reference to Clinton's appearance on Arseneo Hall during his 1992 campaign. It suggests that the American Political Scene is being dumbed down SO much that it needs to appeal to the segments of society where image is more important than the real world (we also saw this in the debate between Roberts and Paisley). Definately, Bush II's appearance on Oprah (and immediate jump in the polls) is a recent example of this "dumbing down." I am very liberal, but I don't like this movie because is trashes the GOP. It trashes the trend in American politics, and the mindless ignorant American public that is complicit in that trend. I recommend Bob Roberts both for its humor AND its message. I'm just dissapointed that Robbins refused to issue a soundtrack to this movie. I was looking forward to purchasing these tunes and listening to them anytime I needed a good laugh!
Rating: 
Summary: Make Money by any means Necessary
Review: By 1992, actor and leftist-liberal firebrand Tim Robbins had come a long way since his thankless role in the George Lucas uber-flop "Howard the Duck", and "Bob Roberts" displayed that the actor who had turned in fine performances in gritty movies like "The Player", "Jacob's Ladder", and---erm---"Erik the Viking" (he played Erik, and *I* liked it, anyway) had solid directorial chops, as well. "Bob Roberts" is a gimlet-eyed little mockumentary chronicling the rise, fall and rise of merciless, villainous, Machiavellian and media-savvy politician Bob Roberts, who---as the film's opening sequence makes clear---is a man of many talents: former West Pointer, Wall Street trader and stock market guru, self-made millionaire, and right-wing folk singer. Folk singer? That's the clever little hook on which Robbins hangs his skillful little fusillade against mindless political partisanship: Roberts has appropriated the Rebel Prophet image crafted at Woodstock for himself, and---horrors!---for right-wing Republican politics. Roberts is an ingenious political animal, having picked up a guitar and made the transition from Woodstock to Wall Street---and now he wants Main Street. The plot is simplicity itself: "Bob Roberts" is played with a straight face as the'documentary' of the 1992 Bob Roberts Pennsylvania senatorial campaign, produced and 'directed' by fictional documentarian Terry Manchester (played convincingly by veteran British actor Brian Murray). Robbins, along with cinematographer Jean LePine (who worked with Robbins on "The Player), has captured the documentary feel---and shows a flair for music videos as well; the Roberts remake of an old Bob Dylan video (entitled "Wall Street Rap") is one of the funniest things I've ever seen, and continues Roberts's plunder of leftist icons: the last cue-cards Roberts tosses into the street read: "Make...Money...by..any...Means...Necessary". Robbins keeps up a taut and feverish MTV-like pace, charting Roberts's professional and political ride through interviews with parents, teachers, and friends, splicing them together with television appearances, interviews aboard the Roberts campaign bus (which doubles as a fully functional stock trading floor), and sequences from Roberts's folk concerts, where the candidate takes up his guitar and comes across as what might have happened had someone spliced Bob Dylan's genes with those of Rush Limbaugh. That said, Robbins keeps the fun, intrigue, and political chicanery at a boil, and "Bob Roberts" is studded with famous faces all pulling off solid performances: Gore Vidal as the calcified liberal opponent, a young Jack Black as Bob's Number One Fan, Giancarlo Esposito as the tireless independent reporter digging for the truth, Alan Rickman as a scowling campaign supporter (and Black Ops mastermind) in dark glasses, Ray Wise as the gung-ho campaign manager, and Susan Sarandon, Fred Ward, and James Spader as clueless (and absolutely hysterical!) network TV anchors round out the C-SPAN-fueled goodness. "Bob Roberts" occasionally stumbles: the sequence on the comedy-show "Cutting Edge" is just painful, and comes across as sour and false. But that's a small complaint for the best 'mockumentary' since "This is Spinal Tap", and it's a nice antidote to the deadly serious, nasty real-life politics of our own combative age. Now if they'd just release the soundtrack...
Rating:
Summary: soundtrack?
Review: Does anyone know where i can find the soundtrack to this movie??
Rating: 
Summary: A liberal's wet dream
Review: For those who wish to believe that the liberal politician is the selfless servant of mankind too pure and true to stoop to the horrific tactics of the conservative who of course is only interested in defending the powerful and taking from the helpless. I would echo the thoughts of reviewers Harris and Moore - Tim Robbin's film is so pathetically simple minded and transparent in demonizing the right it loses all credibility. But credibility aside - the movie was boring and stupid. A great example how ideology and self love can turn an otherwise brilliant movie maker into a dunce.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Film Ever Made About Politics and Power in America
Review: How do you give a film more than five stars? For "Bob Roberts" is the best, bar none, film about politics andpower in the United States. It is entertaining; it is enlightening; it is an amusing, satirical romp that time has not rendered out-of-date. Indeed, ten years after its release, it is more timely than ever. This is due in part to Tim Robbins' deft talent for poking all sorts of holes in the balloons of the sanctimonious prigs who comprise the right wing of the nation's political spectrum. But, above all, it is due to the presence in the film of our greatest living writer and man of letters, Gore Vidal. Vidal's portrayal of incumbant senator Brickley Paste (D-PA), under siege from a folk-singing "rebel" Neanderthal (of course, Bob Roberts), is pointed, ironic and above all else educational. For in his regretably short time on the screen, Vidal lays open for us his view of recent American history, all in that tired but wise man of the world way he has of stating truths that no one else (save people like Noam Chomsky and Christopher Hitchens) has the guts to say. "Bob Roberts" is ultimately a film that brings us beneath the surface of American politics; and for this reason I suspect that it will never become as popular as other great political films, such as "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "The Last Hurrah." For these are the films that depict politics as we would like it to be ("Mr. Smith") or at least as we can tolerate it to be (" The Last Hurrah"). They do not however depict politics as it has become. In this respect, "Bob Roberts" is the perfect sequel to "The Last Hurrah;" but the substance of its message is so painful that only the most ardently committed to civil liberties and a republican (small "r")form of government can bear
it.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Film Ever Made About Politics and Power in America
Review: How do you give a film more than five stars? For "Bob Roberts" is the best, bar none, film about politics andpower in the United States. It is entertaining; it is enlightening; it is an amusing, satirical romp that time has not rendered out-of-date. Indeed, ten years after its release, it is more timely than ever. This is due in part to Tim Robbins' deft talent for poking all sorts of holes in the balloons of the sanctimonious prigs who comprise the right wing of the nation's political spectrum. But, above all, it is due to the presence in the film of our greatest living writer and man of letters, Gore Vidal. Vidal's portrayal of incumbant senator Brickley Paste (D-PA), under siege from a folk-singing "rebel" Neanderthal (of course, Bob Roberts), is pointed, ironic and above all else educational. For in his regretably short time on the screen, Vidal lays open for us his view of recent American history, all in that tired but wise man of the world way he has of stating truths that no one else (save people like Noam Chomsky and Christopher Hitchens) has the guts to say. "Bob Roberts" is ultimately a film that brings us beneath the surface of American politics; and for this reason I suspect that it will never become as popular as other great political films, such as "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "The Last Hurrah." For these are the films that depict politics as we would like it to be ("Mr. Smith") or at least as we can tolerate it to be (" The Last Hurrah"). They do not however depict politics as it has become. In this respect, "Bob Roberts" is the perfect sequel to "The Last Hurrah;" but the substance of its message is so painful that only the most ardently committed to civil liberties and a republican (small "r")form of government can bear
it.
Rating:
Summary: Right On the Nosey!
Review: I agree with "A Viewer from USA", this movie SHOULD be shown in every school and movie house in the United States. Regrettably, I'm afraid most Americans in today's more-aggressively-conservative-than-even-Reagan's-administration climate would take seriously and embrace the message sent by Robbins' candidate Roberts. The songs sung by candidate Roberts in the movie would likely not be taken for the satire they are and instead be adopted whole-cloth by many in 2003 America (which is why Robbins never released a movie soundtrack of "Bob Roberts"). A chilling and demoralizing thought indeed.
Robbins' message retains its vitality and legitimacy even 11 years after its release. Indeed, perhaps its message is even more accurate and necessary today ( April 2003) than it was in 1992.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good
Review: I always vote Republican. I'm conservative politically. ... I can't stand Tim Robbins knee-jerk liberal ranting when I read him spout political "thought" in interviews. Which means I really mean it when I say this is a first-rate film. It's really original, brilliantly written, well-acted and directed. I was amazed to find how much I like this film. Yeah, it's from a liberal perspective. But I did think it damning of a certain character-type, and not an ideology. This is a fine film.
Rating:
Summary: All too true...if a little over the top
Review: I am amazed that so few people appreciate or notice that Robbins skewers more than Republicans in this one! Has no one still alive seen "Dont Look Back", the documentary of Bob Dylan's 1965 English tour? "Bob Roberts" is a deft satire of "Dont Look Back" and the phenomenon of knee-jerk hero worship, whatever it's political pretensions. Rent "Dont Look Back" and this film at the same time, and watch this one second...I think you'll agree that this film has more complexity than most of it's reviewers have managed to notice.
Rating:
Summary: Hillarious
Review: I couldn't believe how funny this movie was considering the fact that it was a film about politics with non other than the anti-american pair of Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandan. For someone from the right this was an eye-opener into the psychodynamics of the confused liberal mind. This movie is incredibly funny in that at the same time it is a left wing critique of, and an unwitting self-expose into how misunderstanding Robbins and the like are of conservatism.
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