Line #29 Film/TheCampaign


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thecampaign2012candidateads.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:May the best loser win.]]
3
4	A 2012 political comedy starring Creator/WillFerrell and Creator/ZachGalifianakis. Ferrell plays Democratic Congressman Cam Brady, who is running for his fifth term unopposed. After his public image is wrecked following a certain promiscuous act, Marty Huggins (Galifianakis), tourism director for the town of Hammond is chosen to run against Cam. HilarityEnsues.
5
6	----
7	!!Tropes applying to this film:
8
9	* AccentOnTheWrongSyllable: Marty at one point refers to [[Music/LadyGaga "Lady guh-GAH"]].
10	* AmusingInjuries: After Cam makes a campaign ad featuring footage of him screwing Marty's wife, Marty shoots him in the thigh with a hunting rifle.
11	--> '''Cam Brady''': "Black Hawk down!"
12	* ArcWords: America, Jesus, Freedom. Not just the actual words; each of the three debates focuses on one of these words in the exact same order (The first involves jobs, which Cam states lead to a strong America; the second involves religion, with a parody of the Lord's Prayer included; and the third involves Cam being accused of being a communist.)
13	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Inverted. Marty's family confessions begin with "taking the Lord's name in vain" and end with bestiality and Drew Carey-masturbation.
14	* AttackOfThePoliticalAd: Cam Brady runs a campaign ad portraying Huggins as an Al Qaeda terrorist. The evidence? Handlebar Mustache.
15	* BecomingTheMask: Marty eventually [[spoiler:begins to become a vicious campaigner and politician, before he reverts to his more innocent original self.]]
16	* BigBadDuumvirate: The Motch brothers, [[spoiler: though Glenn Motch seems to be worse than Wade, having tried three times to kill Wade and attempts to pin harboring Tim Wattley on him, as well.]]
17	* BigNo: Cam screams this after accidentally punching a baby.
18	* BitchInSheepsClothing: Cam Brady's wife acts all loving and supportive but the minute he starts losing in the political race, she dumps him and takes the kids with her. Only returning to him to fake being a happy couple in the public eye because the Motch Brothers paid her a great sum of money to do so.
19	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: For Cam. He's no longer congressman and lost his wife and possibly his children, but is now Marty's chief of staff and helps him take down the Motch Brothers and reveal Tim Wattley's true identity.]]
20	* BrotherSisterIncest: [[spoiler:The married couple, Mr. Mendenhall and Mrs. Hadenhall, (whose wife had sex with Cam) turned out to be siblings. [[{{Squick}} But they're okay with it.]]]]
21	* BreadEggsMilkSquick: Marty asks for confessions from his family to prepare for campaign revelations. It begins with taking the Lord's Name in vain, and ends with [[spoiler: Drew Carey masturbation fantasies.]]
22	* BrickJoke: The inappropriate song "Azz and Tittiez" by Three 6 Mafia plays during a family dinner at Cam Brady's mansion. The song is heard playing again in the family car as Cam's wife leaves him and takes the kids.
23	* CallBack: Dylan confessed that a biker let him touch his wife's boobs. Near the end of the film, the biker confessed to his friends that he let kids touch his wife's boobs.
24	* TheCameo:
25	** The dog from ''Film/TheArtist'' appears in a scene [[spoiler:in which he is on the receiving end of a punch from Cam that was intended for Marty.]]
26	** Several throughout the movie by various real life political news anchors. Specifically, Piers Morgan and Wolf Blitzer and about a third of the anchors of MSNBC.
27	** John Goodman as the next congressman to be targeted for replacement.
28	** Pro-wrestlers Wrestling/TheMiz and Wrestling/TarynTerrell appear. The Miz had a larger role, but most of it was cut.
29	* CampStraight: The performance of Galifianakis, plus the dogs, plus the fact that ''he'' had to be proposed to (''six times'') as opposed to being the one to propose, combined with the broad hints that his wife isn't getting enough of, well, him, the film seems be dropping hints that Marty is secretly gay. However, the lack of a coming out scene, or a getting found out scene, and the fact that Marty is genuinely hurt by his wife's infidelity, might possibly suggest that Marty is just a really effeminate straight man with a low sex drive.
30	* ChewToy: Cam. He gets bitten by a venomous snake, arrested for drunk driving and [[spoiler:stealing a cop car]], and shot in the leg by Marty.
31	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: After Cam Brady is bitten by a snake and he jumps out a window and disappears into the woods, everyone inside the church doesn't see him outside and thinks he has ascended to the sky and thinks it is a miracle.
32	* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: Mitch for Cam.
33	* ClusterFBomb: Cam upon being bitten by a snake.
34	* ControlFreak: Tim Wattley.
35	* DepravedBisexual: During confessions, one spouse reveals to his wife that he's been having an affair with a waitress from a restaurant. His wife reveals that she too has been having an affair with the same waitress no less. Then they hug it out.
36	* TheDitz: Cam Brady, male version.
37	* DrugsAreBad: During confessions, Mr. Hadenhall reveals that he's been running a meth lab out of his own children's tree fort.
38	* {{Eagleland}}: Cam's mantra is "Murika, Jesus, and freedom".
39	* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Cam withdraws, Marty wins, and justice is done. After many terrible ads.]]
40	* [[ElectionDayEpisode Election Day Film]]: This is one of the central tropes of this movie.
41	* EmbarrassingNickname: Marty was called "Tickleshits" in high school. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin He shits when you tickle him enough.]]
42	* EmbarrassingVoicemail: Cam accidentally leaves a sexually explicit message on the machine of a conservative Christian family.
43	* ExperimentedInCollege: Cam claims to have done this.
44	* ExtremeOmnivore: Cam takes a bite out of a ''live raccoon'' while running rampant in the woods for food.
45	* {{Expy}}: Cam Brady shares several traits with former US Senator John Edwards (Democrat from North Carolina known for expensive haircuts and brought down after cheating on his wife) and former U.S. president George W. Bush, while the Motch brothers are the Koch brothers (secretive billionaire {{CorruptCorporateExecutive}}s known for throwing millions of dollars around to support candidates and groups that will help them in their fight against environmental and labor laws and taxes).
46	** He's also similar in many ways to Ricky Bobby in ''Film/TalladegaNightsTheBalladOfRickyBobby'' (also played by Will Ferrell) - both are arrogant {{Eagleland}} stereotypes in extremely shallow marriages.
47	* EverybodyHasStandards: After Cam [[spoiler: seduces Marty's wife]] and records footage of it to spite Marty, his team refuses to air it on live television as it's essentially porn. So Cam fires some of his team on the spot and runs the footage anyway.
48	* FailedAttemptAtDrama: [[spoiler: After Marty rejects the Motch brothers request, he dramatically walks off... Only for him to spend a solid minute trying to get a broken door open.]]
49	* FanDisservice: [[spoiler: A brief close-up shot of Cam Brady's hairy chest as Marty's wife rubs a popsicle on his nipple before he licks it.]]
50	* HeelFaceDoorSlam: [[spoiler: After Cam comes to Marty's house and apologizes and they share a heart-to-heart, Marty calls the cops on him for DUI, and things go downhill from there.]]
51	* HollywoodHealing: Cam recovers very quickly from a Rattlesnake bite and getting shot by a hunting rifle.
52	* HomePornMovie: [[spoiler: Cam seduces Marty's wife, secretly records it, and posts it on the Internet.]]
53	* {{Hypocrite}}: Reynold holds a grudge towards his son Marty for his effeminate ways. But it didn't stop him from having an affair with a woman who could pass for Dog The Bounty Hunter.
54	* HypocriticalHumor: Cam's kids put in headphones so they don't hear him and his wife using strong language. The music they're listening to? Goes a little something like this:
55	-->"Ass and titties! Ass and titties! Ass and titties and big-booty bitches!"
56	* InstantSeduction: [[spoiler: Only a few drinks, some sweet talk and a simple peck on the lips and Marty's wife is ready to sleep with Cam]].
57	* InsaneTrollLogic: Runs rampant throughout the movie, such as Marty using a book Cam wrote in the second grade as proof that he's a Communist, or Cam trying to link Marty to Al Qaeda and UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein because they both have facial hair.
58	* ItsAllAboutMe: Cam Brady's wife wants nothing more than to become a first lady and only reprimand her husband of his infidelities because it could wreck his political campaign and ruin her chances of becoming first lady.
59	* {{Jerkass}}: Cam [[spoiler: though he is eventually revealed to have a HiddenHeartOfGold]], [[BitchInSheepsClothing his wife]], [[TheDragon Tim Wattley]] and [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the Motch brothers]].
60	** Also Marty's father and brother.
61	* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Tim Wattley simply leaves during the final scene and is [[TheReveal revealed]] to be an [[AvertedTrope international fugitive in the epilogue.]] While the law is onto him, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse his fate is never revealed]].]]
62	** Similarly, Marty seems to suffer no consequences from shooting his opponent in front of numerous witnesses. At best, that would've been charged as Aggravated Battery with a Firearm, but it doesn't prevent him from continuing in the election [[spoiler: and eventually serving in Congress]].
63	* TheLancer: Mitch to Cam, [[spoiler: until the sex tape. And at the end, Cam to Marty.]]
64	* LarynxDissonance: The Huggins family maid, Mrs. Yao, who speaks like a stereotypical black woman (see below) and later like a stereotypical Latina.
65	* MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Cam has sex with his mistress inside a port-a-potty. She complains about the smell though.
66	* {{Mammy}}: Marty's father has a maid who he orders to talk like one to remind him of "the good old days", even though she's Asian.
67	* MasturbationMeansSexualFrustration: Because she is not getting enough of her husband, Marty's wife touches herself to Drew Carey from The Price Is Right [[spoiler: and sleeps with Cam Brady]].
68	* MissingMom: Marty's mother apparently died some time before the movie.
69	* MoodWhiplash: Any sadness felt in the scene where Cam's wife leaves him and takes the kids disappears as the song "Azz and Tittiez" by Three 6 Mafia plays loudly in the car.
70	* MushroomSamba: Cam suffers a bad trip after being bit by a venomous snake. Side effects included loss of sanity, fever, an erection and taking a bite out of a small animal.
71	* NiceGuy: Marty is eccentric and mild mannered but clearly a nicer person than Cam [[spoiler: at least before the campaign starts getting nasty.]]
72	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Glenn and Wade Motch and their company, Motch Worldwide Global are a thinly veiled fictional counterpart to the real life Charles and David Koch, and their company Koch Industries.
73	* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: Both the city of Hammond and North Carolina's 14th congressional district are fictional.
74	* NoodleIncident: Cam recalls a time during his philandering when he was piled with copious amounts of Red Bull, Jell-O shots and goldschlager. His doctor thought he had Chron's disease. The end result were flakes of 24-karat gold in his stool for a month.
75	--> '''Cam''' I crapped gold!
76	* NoSympathy: Cam is chastised for swearing in a church after getting bitten by a venomous snake.
77	* NoPartyGiven: Averted. Both candidates are identified as Republican (Huggins) and Democrat (Brady) respectively, although their policy positions remain ambiguous. By the end of the movie, both men are shown in a positive light.
78	* OhCrap: Everyone's reaction to Cam punching a baby.
79	* OnceDoneNeverForgotten:
80	** Marty Huggins' father Reynold refuses to forgive his son for the way he dressed at his mother's funeral years ago. It's one of the reasons he holds his son in contempt for his effeminate mannerisms.
81	--> '''Marty''' Dad, if you're still holding a grudge because I wore Crocs to Mom's funeral... like I've told you a thousand times, I'm sorry. Mom would've wanted it that way. She was casual.
82	** When Marty finally stands up to his abusive father Reynold, he tells him he was aware of the time Reynold was having an affair with another woman that looked like Dog The Bounty Hunter. Much to Reynold's shock.
83	* OnlySaneMan: Mitch is the only major character who doesn't do anything crazy or have some sort of problem. [[spoiler: He's also the only one who calls Cam out for what he did with Mitzi.]]
84	* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: "Filipino tilt-a-whirl operators are this nation's backbone!"
85	* PapaWolf: Cam is ''furious'' when Marty gets one of Cam's sons to call him dad, and [[spoiler:sleeps with Marty's wife as revenge.]]
86	* PoliticiansKissBabies: The two candidates get into a fight over which is going to kiss a particular baby. Brady ends up punching the baby in the struggle.
87	* PsychopathicManChild: Cam, especially during the VillainousBreakdown he has after Marty runs a campaign ad in which Cam's son calls him Dad.
88	* RagingStiffie: One of the side effects Cam suffers from being bitten by a venomous snake is a permanent erection.
89	* SeductionAsOneUpmanship: Cam Brady sleeps with Marty Huggins' wife and films it for his campaign as payback for Huggins using his son as part of his own.
90	-->'''Brady:''' Marty Huggins can't even take care of his own wife, so I did...
91	* SequelHook: In a deleted scene, we have this:
92	--> '''Cam''': "[[spoiler: Cam Brady, '014!]]"
93	* SillyPrayer: Cam's attempt to recite The Lord's Prayer. Since he doesn't actually know it, he relies on Mitch pantomiming certain words, and gets most of it wrong.
94	* SkewedPriorities: Cam cheats on his wife with two women (Shana and Mitzi) throughout the movie. However, she only gets angry with him as doing so ruins his chance of getting re-elected, caring more about the political and financial advantages of being a congressman's wife than monogamy with her husband.
95	* SleepingSingle: Marty Huggins and his wife are revealed to have been sleeping in twin separate beds as a result of their sexless marriage.
96	* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler: Wade Motch seems not to really care about Glenn trying to kill him in his sleep. He doesn't die, but still.]]
97	* {{Twincest}}: During confessions, Mrs. Hadenhall reveals that she is her husband's twin sister and they're okay with it.
98	* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Cam.
99	* WellDoneSonGuy: Marty.

Context Film / TheCampaign