SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

brandon burns Base on a true story of the 2000 president election Florida recount between Vice President Al Gore and The then Governor of Texas George W. Bush, at first we all think Gore wins Florida thus making him the 43rd President! but wait, now the state goes to Bush! And now both sides are at war over who actually won Florida? did Bush really won the state or was Gore the winner of Florida in the first place. Kevin Spacey plays ( Ron Klain ) Denis Leary plays ( Michael Whouley ) who uses more cuss words then any other actor in the movie.Laura Dern who plays the Secretary of State Katherine Harris won a Golden Globe award for her performance, and I think she deserved it To! Directed by Jay Roach of Austin Powers, Meet The Parents, Mystery Alaska, I thought he did a wonderful job of this HBO TV movie, this was also the time of Bush's last year in office and Obama's road to the white house.I give it ten stars because it is a great film!

happipuppi13 My local library has done it again. Placed on it's shelf another really great movie I've never heard of. Pretty easy pick when I saw it was about the 2000 Presidential election. Like most i was watching that November night when all measure of political insanity broke out. I was videotaping that night and now (even though Gore "lost"),I wish I'd saved that tape.Most of us out there know the storyline and has been covered here. I can commend the creators very highly on this for bringing a very detailed & as truthful as possible telling of all that went wrong. A lot of what went wrong existed before the election even began.The cast here plays each singular role in a manner that makes you feel you are watching exactly what these people felt at that time. They never makes the person their portraying into a 2 dimensional cartoon. Some here feel the movie is leaning in favor of the Democrats as the good guys & the GOP the bad. What I saw was that Gore's supporters wanted to play fair as possible and the GOP well,they didn't. I'm not trying to say "all" republicans are like that but given what happened that night and up until Nov. 2008,no one should be surprised at how they are depicted here. I still feel the storytelling was as fair as possible to both parties and former candidatesI honestly did feel the sense of loss all over again,when (on the phone) Gore tells Kevin Spacey "I can't win." "Even if I win,I lose". The end of the film is an unfortunate reminder of what was to come next for the U.S. , but if you haven't seen this,I wont give it away. I will say there have been good made for TV movies but for some reason,HBO seems to make better ones. 10 stars,count 'em 10. {END}

sveknu This movie was totally unknown to me when I by coincidence discovered it because it aired on TV. (It's a TV movie after all). I think it deserves to be more well-known among people. American politics has always been of interest to me, and this was highly entertaining. I remember the mess, arguing and total chaos that was the Presidential election Florida recount, but I couldn't remember all the details. This movie takes you through everything that happened in a way that you don't want to stop watching. It's really entertaining, sometimes I think it's borders to comedy, but that's not a problem. In fact, the whole situation in 2000 was almost a comedy in itself. Before I watched this, I feared that it would have the typical liberal viewpoint that so many political movies have thus making them hard to watch. Luckily, I felt that it was quite neutral all the way through and managed to show the situation from both sides. That's a big plus. Also, the acting is great in this movie.

Danny Blankenship Over the last year I have watched this film many times and I must say as always HBO does it again. Their original film work is top notch it's always relevant and the acting blended in with actual news shots of realism is super. "Recount" one of the best films ever made from their original collection replays and goes in depth in a very informative and interesting retelling of the 2000 presidential contest between Al Gore and George W. Bush. As it highlights the chaos and drama that occurred during the Florida recount all up until the Supreme Court decision.Starting election night when you see that it's to close to call with the call hanging in the balance down in the sunshine state. From the get go it's like you as the viewer are reliving the 2000 election all over again. You see the info revealed the ballot punch cards in Florida were in question so Ron Klain(played wonderfully by Kevin Spacey) advises Mr. Gore to challenge for a recount as the AP has reported a much closer race than the networks who have already declared a W. victory. Then legal challenge after legal challenge occurs as each acquire a legal team to fight the Florida election boards and state supreme courts.As your caught up with the intrigue and drama of the film from the behind the scenes strategy planning of legal and political tricks, you see clearly that Gore's team was not aggressive enough as Warren Christopher former secretary of state will not put up as much of a backyard dogfight brawl like the Republican side. As you see ex secretary of state and Bush family friend attorney James Baker(played to perfection by Tom Wilkinson) who's crafty and sly as a fox who will do anything to win. Even though the makers of this film like all Hollywood people tend to favor the Democrats and liberals still it was nice they portrayed Gore's team as weak and not as aggressive which was true. Then on the other hand I disagree with their other take which I know was just liberal mischief making a laugh at a wicked witch Republican Florida secretary of State Katherine Harris. Even though Harris was played to form by Laura Dern still this film portrays her as to stupid and to obsessed with the limelight of the media focus of attention and flashing lights. Even if you didn't like Katherine Harris and her ways of handling the recount still the film should have portrayed her more in an elegant and classy manner as for real Mrs. Harris is a beautiful and sexy woman for the political world.Just like the old days of 2000 all during this film it's back and fourth bickering, fussing, and legal challenge after challenge as one side tries to outwit, outsmart and trick the other during the sunshine state recount. As it goes all the way up to the U.S. supreme court. Once again HBO does it again with an original of a real live event that's done to perfection making us relive the most memorable and controversial U.S. presidential election in history. As everyone remembers late 2000 being focused to their TV's and all the time thinking of Florida and the recount. Plus from watching this film as many already know it highlights a lot of what is wrong with our U.S. political election system from punch ballot cards with chads, the popular vote, electoral college, racial profiling, polling firms, and most of all proving that when courts decide elections it's bad because it's just like people having their mouths duct taped of freedom of democracy and speech.