Running Mates (2000)

As a Michigan Governor (Tom Selleck) makes his bid for the Democratic nomination for President, several women in his life, both past and present, put pressure on him: his campaign manager (Laura Linney), his wife (Nancy Travis), a Hollywood fundraiser (Teri Hatcher) and a Washington socialite (Faye Dunaway) who wants her husband (Robert Culp) to be the VP on the ticket. Directed by Ron Lagomarsino, this film starts off promisingly with a cynical look at the behind the scenes machinations of compromises and political backscratching and deal making. But by the time we get to the end of the journey, it's thinned out to a shallow version of a Frank Capra MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON "we the people" feel good ending that screams out "Fake!" If it only it had played out to its more honest cynicism. The acting is decent with Faye Dunaway especially good as an ambitious political wife far too good for her womanizing husband. Also in the cast: Bob Gunton, Bruce McGill, Stephen Lang and Caroline Aaron.