Producer Jerry Bruckheimer isn't exactly known for making thoughtful movies.
"Top Gun," "Con Air," "The Rock" and "Armageddon" have certainly proved popular at the box office, but they didn't exactly raise the level of national discourse. And while "Armageddon" may have been about saving the world, it certainly wasn't about ideas and morals and ethics.Which makes the made-for-TV movie "Swing Vote" (8 p.m., ABC/Ch. 4) a huge departure for Bruckheimer -- not to mention a very large departure for network television. It's a movie about abortion that's neither sensationalized nor one-sided.
It's a movie that consists almost entirely of people talking -- people talking about various sides of as tough an issue as politicians face in America today.
Set in the very near future, Andy Garcia stars as Joseph Michael Kirkland, a relatively young man who has just been appointed to the Supreme Court. And he couldn't have arrived at a more difficult time.
It's two years after the Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, leaving the question of abortion rights up to each individual state. Alabama (of course) has decreed that abortion is equivalent to first-degree murder -- so when a young lawyer (Lisa Gay Hamilton of "The Practice") undergoes an abortion in that state and received a stiff prison sentence, the case is quickly kicked up to the Supreme Court for review.
As it turns out, the established members of the high court are split 4-4 -- leaving Kirkland as the "Swing Vote."
The cast in this telefilm is impressive. In addition to Garcia, those playing the Supreme Court justices include Harry Belafonte, James Whitmore, Ray Walston, Robert Prosky, Kate Nelligan and John Aylward ("ER"). And the always-winning Margaret Colin plays Kirkland's wife.
The telefilm was scripted by Ron Bass ("Rainman," "Waiting to Exhale") and directed by David Anspaugh ("Rudy").
The most amazing thing about Bass' script is that it manages to make intelligent arguments from many different sides. No matter how you stand on abortion, you're going to find someone expressing a viewpoint you can wholeheartedly agree with.
You'll also find characters expressing opinions diametrically opposed to your own.
And, while there are obviously disagreements, no one is mocked or belittled for their beliefs -- from the most liberal to the most conservative characters. That, in and of itself, is nothing short of remarkable.
"Swing Vote" aims high -- but it also falls short of its goals. The movie wallows a bit too much in personal drama. There are lapses in believability. There are moments when the characters seem to be little more than pat stand-ups spouting prefabricated speeches.
And the ultimate conclusion -- while at least a bit unexpected -- seems entirely too facile.
Still, everyone involved in "Swing Vote" -- producers, writers, directors, actors, the network itself -- deserves applause for having the courage to make a movie that's actually about something. That doesn't happen very often in either TV or theatrical films.