In Our Brand is Crisis, political strategist Jane Bodine is plucked from the remote mountain cabin in which she's hiding from the failures of her last campaign, six years ago. Taken to Bolivia, her mission is to advise its ex-president, who is running for office again, but hugely unpopular with voters.
At first, Jane is so uninvolved the audience feels it may be another tired Sandra Bullock comedy. But taunts from former opponent Pat Candy (Billy Bob Thornton) kick Jane into high gear. She becomes passionate and committed - less to her client's cause than to settling the score.
You end up with a very human character, and a multi-layered performance from Bullock that will have you rooting for her, despite her abrasive, sometimes brilliantly devious tactics to drive her candidate's campaign.
Intellectuals expecting a political drama may well hate this. But as a comedy-drama about going through an identity crisis, it's delightful and a lot of fun.
We relate to Jane because she's flawed in ways that many of us are: prone to anger, vices and self-pity. The other great characters, and some laugh-out-loud moments, don't hurt, either.
Contains partial nudity and strong language