FIGHTING FOR THE HEARTLAND (IRRESISTIBLE)

As American politicians, their advisers and the media treat everything in politics as a zero sum game, the more depressing it gets.

The Trump Presidency has accelerated the race to the bottom in US politics, focusing solely on appeasing the base and treating Democrats, dissenting voices in the Republican Party and the media like their worst enemies.

Trump and his allies have consistently shattered democratic norms and  shunned bipartisanship.

Even now, some continue to stoke the flames of partisan politics by refusing to concede what everyone knows - that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.

In recent weeks, Trump toadies have grasped at frankly ridiculous allegations of voter fraud on an industrial scale and their arguments have consistently failed to stand up to scrutiny in the US courts.

The posturing of Trump, Rudy Giuliani and others in has been corrosive for democracy.

The unwillingness of the Republican Party leadership to be open and honest about the defeat has also been an embarrassment.

Ted Cruz's recent intervention, announcing he woukd argue the case in the Supreme Court for disqualifying thousands of mail-in votes in Pennsylvania smacked of desperation.

It showed him to be a man who is so afraid his White House ambitions will be steamrolled by the Trump train, he will pander to the deception of Republican voters.

The hardening of American political discourse and the unwillingness to compromise, of course, existed long before Trump.

It was evident 30 years ago during Bill Clinton's Presidency - with the rise of talk radio propagandists like Rush Limbaugh who thrive on stoking division.

It has created a toxic political culture and it is this volatile atmosphere that has inspired former 'Daily Show' presenter Jon Stewart's second feature film as a director, 'Irresistible'.

It is hardly a surprising move for Stewart, who for years lampooned politics on 'The Daily Show' - especially Republican politics.

'The Daily Show' was also notable for helping launch the careers of Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and Steve Carrell.

'Irresistible' sees Stewart reunite with Carrell.

But instead of Mr Smith going to Washington, Washington goes to Mr Smith in this tale as Democrat and Republican strategists descend on a small Wisconsin town to open a new front in their relentless identity politics war.

At the start, Carrell's Democratic Party strategist Gary Zimmer is reeling from the shock defeat of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential Election.

Plunged into a deep depression, he hides under the bedclothes while various digital devices set off around him.

A glimmer of hope comes in the form of an internet video that an aide shows him of a retired Army colonel and farmer making an impassioned plea at a townhall meeting in Deerlaken, Wisconsin on behalf of undocumented immigrants.

Zimmer is immediately drawn to the notion they may have found the perfect Democratic candidate in the Midwest - someone who looks, feels and sounds like a Republican but who has core liberal values.

With Deerlaken about to hold a Mayoral Election, Zimmer believes victory with Chris Cooper's Marine Colonel Jack Hastings on the ticket will open up a new front in the Republican heartland and help voters there seriously entertain the idea of voting Democrat in future.

He arrives in the town as a fish way out of of water, bringing Beltway assumptions about life in the Midwest with him.

On his arrival in Deerlaken, he engages in toe curling banter with locals in the bar of a local hotel - insisting on a Bud and a burger for dinner as if that is what you are expected to eat in Wisconsin.

The following day, he travels out to Hastings' farm in a bid to persuade the retired Colonel to run.

Initially Hastings rebuffs the offer but then relents, on condition that Zimmer runs the campaign.

However, his involvement in a small town Mayoral campaign immediately raises the stakes and it attracts the attention of the Republican National Committee who plough money into the campaign of Brent Sexton's Mayor Braun.

This means Zimmer's nemesis, Rose Byrne's Republican strategist Faith Brewster is sent in to run the Braun re-election campaign.

Brewster is eager to rub her Democratic rival's nose in a defeat one more time.

Deerlaken quickly moves from being a sleepy Wisconsin town into the epicentre of a bitter electoral contest, with the hotel bar bursting with Washington DC conservative and liberal operatives.

As Democratic donors pour money into the coffers of the Hastings campaign, Zimmer creates a sophisticated political operation with Topher Grace as a number cruncher and Natasha Lyonne's sassy digital data analyst also on board.

But as the polls draw closer and the desire for victory burns even more intense, the tactics deployed by both sides become more outlandish.

Add into the mix Hastings' sceptical daughter, Mackenzie Davis' Diana and you have the ingredients of a smart satire about how far Beltway politics in the US has drifted from reality and the rest of the country.

Stewart's feature, which he also wrote, is a curious mix but an enjoyable one nevertheless.

On one level, it has an old fashioned gentle air about it and yet on another, it throws some jabs at the Democratic Party establishment as well as at Tea Party and Trump Republicans.

It isn't as Capraesque as you might expect.

Indeed its attitude is a world away from the basic core belief in 'Mr Smith Goes to Washington' that politics can be a force for good.

But there is a definite, old style screwball. warm and fuzzy feel to the venture.

Occasionally, Stewart throws in a choice line like Zimmer describing his candidate as "Bill Clinton with impulse control" or "a church going Bernie Sanders with better bone density'.

But the film is surprisingly reminiscent of Bill Forsyth's gentle Scottish fish out of water comedy 'Local Hero' which also had a hero transported out of his urban comfort zone to a canny, isolated rural community.

In this 21st Century rural American version, the bane of the metropolitan politicos is poor WiFi reception.

In one amusing sequence, Zimmer and three of his male colleagues raise local suspicions after they park in the grounds of ihe high school, hoping to piggyback on their superior Wifi signal but looking highly dodgy.

Stewart keeps the action moving along at a brisk pace and his cinematographer Bobby Bukowski bathes the film in a warm, autumnal light.

He also elicits well judged comic performances from the cast.

Carrell is as charismatic and amusing as you would expect as the wounded political operative desperate to notch up a win, any win for the Democratic side.

Cooper is spot on as the reluctant candidate, with Davies complementing him as his sceptical daughter.

Byrne turns up her Kellyanne Conway dial to 11 as a Republican campaign manager who will say anything on air and do anything to win.

Sexton delivers a stout performance as the Mayor who unexpectedly finds himself in a re-election race that is commanding national attention.

Grace and Lyonne amuse as Democratic operatives who revel in their expertise, only for one of them to make a terrible blunder.

Stewart directs the film with a steady hand and a well honed satirical instinct.

He is, of course, keen to impress on us just how divorced the political pantomime playing out every night on news channels has become for many Americans.

It is worth hanging in there for the delicious twist he delivers at the end.

'Irresistible'acts as a plea for sanity as America tries to emerge from the wreckage of the Trump era and repair the damage.

The challenge facing President Elect Joe Biden's administration though is massive and will require a return to some form of bipartisanship despite the efforts of Trump's toadies to stoke division.

When Trump's Presidency fades from view, it'll be fascinating to see how movies from the era will be viewed.

The retrospective view of 'Irresistible' will be particularly worth watching, even if it is just to check if its plea for more sanity in US politics has been heeded or ignored.

If the antics by Trump and the Republicans over the 2020 election are anything to go by, sanity looks a long way off.

However it is badly needed - not just in the US but around the world.

('Irresistible' was released digitally in the UK and US on June 26, 2020 due to the Covid -19 pandemic)