Product Description

Tim Robbins stars as BOB ROBERTS, a radical folksinger turned senatorial candidate, in this satirical comedy that blends his campaign trail with singing, music videos and scandal. BOB ROBERTS is a hilarious film that will change the way you look at American politics!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13542 in DVD
• Brand: Lions Gate
• Released on: 2001-08-14
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.com
Written and directed by actor Tim Robbins (who also plays the title role), this 1992 mock documentary about an upstart candidate for the U.S. Senate is smart, funny, and scarily prescient in its foreshadowing of the Republican revolution of 1994. Bob Roberts is a folksinger with a difference: He offers tunes that protest welfare chiselers, liberal whining, and the like. As the filmmakers follow his campaign, Robbins gives needle-sharp insight into the way candidates manipulate the media. While the film follows Roberts's campaign, it also covers a fringe journalist (Giancarlo Esposito), who may have dug up the kind of dirt to push Roberts's campaign off the rails. Robbins captures the chilly insincerity of this right-wing populist and fills his cast with terrific supporting players, including Alan Rickman as the campaign's shadowy financier and Susan Sarandon and Peter Gallagher as a pair of airhead TV news anchors. --Marshall Fine

From The New Yorker
Tom Robbins is the writer, director, and star of this mock documentary that chronicles, C-SPAN style, the senatorial campaign of a young radical-right demagogue. Bob Roberts is a folksinger: instead of giving speeches, he picks up an acoustic guitar and invites his audiences to sing along with his reactionary "protest" anthems. He's Pat Buchanan in Woody Guthrie's clothing, and what's scary about the movie is that this grotesque coupling doesn't even feel like a stretch. Robbins works like an inspired political cartoonist: this picture is his chance to have his say on everything that's been bugging him for the past twelve years, and he makes the most of it. He tosses off nasty satiric riffs at a reckless, headlong pace, and the movie, even at its most chilling, is hilarious; its humor is both precise enough to deflate its targets and goofy enough to feel liberating. And his performance as smiling Bob, although it's conceived as a caricature, is never tiresome: it's too finely detailed, and too gleeful. The picture is a down-and-dirty exercise in negative campaigning, and it's bracing to see some mean, memorable zingers coming from the left. Wittily, Robbins has appropriated for his own purposes the attack-dog campaign style of the right wing. This terrifically entertaining movie represents something very unlikely and very welcome: liberal humor with sharp teeth. Also with Gore Vidal, Alan Rickman, Giancarlo Esposito, Brian Murray, and Ray Wise. Many familiar performers turn up in juicy cameos: John Cusack, Bob Balaban, Susan Sarandon, Fred Ward, Pamela Reed, Peter Gallagher, James Spader, Helen Hunt, and the country singer Kelly Willis. Tim Robbins wrote the lyrics of Bob Roberts' songs; David Robbins (his brother) wrote the music. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Left-wing satire of right-wing politics
"Bob Roberts" is a mockumentary about the senatorial campaign of a rich folk singer with a set of right-wing beliefs. Written, directed and starring Tim Robbins, who is well known for his left-wing views, this film cleverly satirizes right-wing politics and politicians (and the music of Bob Dylan). I suspect that how people react to this film will largely depend on their own personal beliefs. My beliefs lie somewhere between those of Robbins and his alter ego. I think that few people would have beliefs as far right as those of Bob Roberts, myself included, which makes it possible to laugh at Roberts' views, but at the same time I don't entirely agree with all of the things said by the left wing characters in this film, such as Roberts's senatorial rival (played by Gore Vidal), which are presumably close to Robbins' own views. Still, this is a well made, very funny and often disturbing film (with some really great songs), and regardless of what you believe, it is worth seeing if only to disagree with it (at the very least, it should make you think about who you would vote for if you were given the opportunity - Bob or his opponent).

Watch out for cameo appearances by a large number of well known actors including Susan Sarandon, Jack Black (thinner, younger and in a straight role), Peter Galagher, John Cusack, James Spader, Pamela Reed and Helen Hunt.

Scathing look at politics
A documentary filmmaker follows the campaign of folk singer-turned-senatorial candidate Bob Roberts (Tim Robbins). Roberts is ultra-conservative, espousing a return to pre-hippie values and saying it's okay to be rich and successful. His crazed fans idolize the flag-waving Bible-thumper but there's one man who casts aspersions on him: Small-time journalist Bugs Raplin (Giancarlo Esposito) claims he has evidence Roberts is involved with shading dealings, and Roberts' handlers don't like that one bit.

Tim Robbins wrote and directed this mockumentary, filmed in shaky-cam. It races from one campaign scene to another, painting a picture of a wholesome, inspired candidate who is above reproach - but if you know Robbins, you know it's all done sarcastically and in fact, shows Roberts to be a slick, prepackaged, underhanded liar at best and a law-breaking criminal at worst.

This film makes right-wing politicians out to be nasty and even dangerous hypocrites, so how much you'll like it depends pretty much on your own political slant. For me, it was okay, 3.5 stars. Bottom line: It's a good movie to watch during this election year.

great film
Bob Roberts is very funny and if your shrewd enough to understand it all it applies to both parties in many ways and show's how blind Patriotism turns the fool