See Arnold Run

The Universe found a way to combine my love of trashy celebrity biographies with trashy political exposé and media studies. I sincerely enjoyed the way this story was told, Cody Brink as young Arnold was excellent, as was Mariel Hemingway as Arianna Huffington. William Bradley, unfortunately, was a terrible idea, I mean the man no harm but whom ever decided that gubernatorial candidate Schwarzenegger was an appropriate part for him was very, very wrong. I do not feel the film was especially mean or friendly to the Governor; it was a fine piece of light hearted entertainment about a heavy, ridiculous moment in our political and social history.

This was a good biopic interweaving Arnold's the two story lines concerning his victory as Mister Universe and his election as Govenor of California. Through any adversity, Arnold has shown that a positive attitude and a drive to succeed can coexist and allow any person to achieve their goals.

That being said, there was one storyline missing from this movie -- his drive to become a Hollywood star. I would have loved a two-part mini-series that included his Hollywood years. It is remarkable that this man decided to achieve greatness in three endeavors in his life: 1. become the greatest bodybuilder in the world, 2. become the biggest Hollywood star, and 3. become a great and beloved politician. He succeeded in all three where most people would be satisfied to have achieved just one.

The actor who played the Mr.Universe Arnold can quite possibly take over roles Arnold originated on screen. He's already aped the Arnold personae as Chip Rommel in "Son Of The Beach". He pulled off a serious Arnold in this movie. I've read that Terminator 4 will take place further into the future. So, he could definitely play an original T-100. Also, there are talks about reviving the Conan series. Who better to play a young Conan?

This is a case where the direction is fantastic (ie: imagery, symbolism, pacing, blocking, getting as much as you can out of terrible actors), but the written story is horrendous. They left out the fact that Arnold was wildly successful in not only body building, but real estate and the restaurant business. They also made him appear to be clueless and out of touch with not only his political advisers but the world and the media. Arnold is a shrewd businessman that is completely aware of his surroundings.

Again I must say I was impressed with James Rogers' direction. He did a lot with a poor script, bad actors and minimal funding.

The younger Arnold had an authentic accent and came close to the Arnold the body builder. The actor playing the older Arnold is a Clown doing a terrible impression of Arnold to the point of ridicule. He may be a good actor but he is cleary misfit here.Looks like the movie was put together in a hurry. Mariel Hemingway was probably the best of the lot as Maria Shriver with an uncanny resemblance to Maria Shriver. In real life Maria Shriver may have coached Arnold for interview's but I don't think she was that active or dominating behind the scenes as it made to appear in the movie. The Strategy sessions are well done with some juicy dialog but when it was joined by Arnold it turned into a stand up comedy. The constant interposition of the younger Arnold was just annoying and intrusive with no depth to the story. Arnold was made to look like a buffoon with series of One liners fit for a monologue than a consummate Politician with a sense of humor. The direction is immature with more of piecing of clips than an artistic endeavor. A mediocre presentation of a Teflon Actor albeit with biceps and determination like steel. The caliber of Production is more fit for E&O (Errors&Omissions)channel than A&E.

I was curious about the film, to see if any reference was made to the other gubernatorial candidates (I was among the others who ran for the office: placed 41st out of 135). No references, of course: it was all Arnold worship, all the time. I was most surprised how little mention was made of Tom McClintock and Cruz Bustamante (but, of course, both remain in state government, and I'm sure out of prudence, the filmmakers kept references to these important figures to a bare minimum).

One scene caught my eye, though. The (uncredited) photographer taking pictures of Bodybuilder Arnold with three lovelies on the beach sure looked like David Hume Kennerly, a photojournalist who helped start a Web Site called Candidate Camera. Gateway, Inc., passed out digital cameras to the candidates and encouraged them to take photos of their individual campaigns. A handful of the images are still on-line at: http://www.kennerly.com/editorial/gallery.php?page=_03recall04