La vie privée d'un sénateur

As Rip Torn is getting a blow job in his senatorial office, an aide looks down and sees a woman's legs under the desk. The senator from La. tells the aide to leave, and we see the bewildered look on his face as he leaves. Small wonder, though, as this movie which shows the salacious side of life in D.C. goes on to reveal wild parties. This same senator is seen bragging on his mile-high exploits and the party climaxes in the grand piano being shoved out the window and traveling down the driveway, flowers on top intact.

Barbara Harris does a great job as the senator's wife. The role of the reluctant teen-ager is not fully developed, and her absence at the great nomination event of the Democratic party is not explained. When you contrast this movie with the carefully orchestrated phoniness of the Republican National Convention, you see easily how our 'free and open' society has degenerated. There were no riot cops with batons and stun guns suppressing the dissidents at this convention.

Alda is still too much of a nice guy in this movie, although he does sexual lust really well, ripping off Streep's clothes. Streep does a nice job, showing her frustration and sadness at her neglectful treatment by her own financially successful husband. The work of the senate aide is also demonstrated as clearly including the handing out of hotel room keys with no questions asked.

Reminding me of Dukakis' wife Kitty and Ford's wife, Betty, you see what the strain of being a Congressman's wife can be. Great points were made about the explicit price paid for having seen a therapist, having shock therapy or the like.

This movie isn't as good as 'The Best Man', Gore Vidal's wonderfully written movie, but who can write that well in this day and time. See the movie for it's strangely prophetic scenes. And then see Alan Alda, as the CORRUPT senator opposite Howard Hughes in 'the Aviator' just in time for the Oscars. Great contrast.

This is a strange little film, and I think it only really popped up on my radar because of the stars: Alan Alda and Meryl Streep (both are great in general, obviously). The former also wrote this, and I don't think he did a terrible job - not as good as some of the episodes he wrote for M*A*S*H, but still okay, if flawed. But to whoever picked the title, I'm not sure why they went with The Seduction of Joe Tynan. That's not a good title.

The film's a political drama with some odd comedic beats at the most random of times. I guess it feels like it's about politicians being hypocritical and wild behind-the-scenes, all the while putting up a front, but if it's trying to be satirical, it definitely doesn't nail that tone. I think it also loses the thread a few times; any time it suddenly starts focusing on family drama, it feels very jarring.

Many of the individual scenes are good or entertaining on their own. The dialogue's generally good, and delivered well, with mostly strong performances. I think it's all put together in a very strange way though, that makes it feel messy, but that unpredictability and chaotic structure also makes it interesting in its own strange way.

The Seduction of Joe Tynan was only partially successful in seducing me as a viewer. It was interesting and kept my attention fairly well, but it was also kind of a mess.

Whatever happened to the rabbit was high on my list of questions and thoughts at the conclusion of The Seduction of Joe Tynan, but that's not actually a good thing. Sure, Alda, Streep, Douglas, and Torn all give solid performances which lifts the material above its inherent quality, but only so much. There's the Washington story which is well written and mostly solid. Then there is the family story which does not work as well. Much of the dialogue in this section feels clumsy and at times unnatural. The direction is fine but it's the script here that let's Joe down and leaves the viewer with an unremarkable film.

The perfect precursor to what Aaron Sorkin and company so wonderfully wrought, Alan Alda and Jerry Schatzberg's intelligent and telling political drama/romance is more like the made for TV movie genre than first run feature. That having been said there's little to take to task here and much to be grateful for including some great character actor turns by Rip Torn and Melvyn Douglas (watch for the gumbo eating/policy thrashing scene) and some shrewd Washington insiders' observations. Somehow, it's hard to imagine Bush, Cheney and the neo cons having nearly half the fun.

Streep anchors the proceedings, investing a level of sophisticated theatricality that gives this film its necessary edge. Her robust good nature at proclaiming, "He's my Daddy!", while piloting a small plane, suggests both her southern belle roots as well as her tenacious appetite to be THE woman behind THE man.

Awfully familiar stuff about persons who take pride in the career over their family and power corrupting, the film is however quite well acted, which brings it above par of its type. Alan Alda and Meryl Streep are both excellent, and although Melvyn Douglas won an Oscar in the same year as this film for 'Being There', he deserves it more here. The acting bridges on being melodramatic from the rest of the cast, but it is hard not to call this a well acted film with those three great performances. There is also some insight into American politics, but the film does assume a bit more than just a basic understanding already, and therefore there is a chance that viewers not familiar with American politics will wind up confused. The music choices are rather poor, and there is one very silly sequence put to square dancing music. Overall though, this is a reasonable film. It does have its flaws, but it has excellent acting to compensate. It might not show anything new or explain everything well, but it is certainly adequate entertainment for its running time.