Movie · 1998 · Drama, Comedy · 2h 23m · R · English
Curator score: 4.3/10 (46.6K ratings)
What went down on the way to the top.
Overview
In this adaptation of the best-selling roman à clef about Bill Clinton's 1992 run for the White House, the young and gifted Henry Burton is tapped to oversee the presidential campaign of Governor Jack Stanton. Burton is pulled into the politician's colorful world and looks on as Stanton -- who has a wandering eye that could be his downfall -- contends with his ambitious wife, Susan, and an outspoken adviser, Richard Jemmons.
Ratings
Curator score: 4.3/10
IMDb: 6.7/10
Letterboxd: 3.31/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 80%
Metacritic: 70
TMDB: 6.3/10
Director
Mike Nichols
Production
Universal Pictures, Mutual Film Company, Icarus, Tele München, BBC, TOHO-TOWA
Cast
John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Billy Bob Thornton, Adrian Lester, Maura Tierney, Paul Guilfoyle, Larry Hagman, Kathy Bates, Diane Ladd, Rebecca Walker, Caroline Aaron, Tommy Hollis, Rob Reiner, Ben Jones, J.C. Quinn, Allison Janney, Robert Klein, Mykelti Williamson, James Denton, Leontine Guilliard
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharp, funny, and surprisingly humane political satire that uses a Clinton-era campaign story to probe vanity, compromise, media spin, and the gap between ideals and human behavior. It’s especially rewarding for viewers who like ensemble acting, backstage politics, and scripts that mix wit with melancholy.
Best for
fans of political dramas with satirical bite
viewers who enjoy ensemble character studies
people interested in campaign-season backstabbing and media frenzy
fans of Mike Nichols or Elaine May-style dialogue
Skip if
you want a straightforward, issue-driven political thriller
you dislike fiction that closely mirrors real public figures
you prefer a more cynical or more explosive take on politics
you’re looking for a fast-paced, high-stakes procedural
Overview
Primary Colors is one of those political movies that gets more interesting the less it behaves like a simple tell-all. It’s clearly rooted in the Clinton 1992 campaign, but Mike Nichols and Elaine May turn the material into something broader and more durable: a study of appetite, charisma, compromise, and the way public ideals get bent by private weakness.
Worth noting
The film works best as an ensemble comedy-drama, with John Travolta, Emma Thompson, and Kathy Bates all finding different shades of self-deception and survival. It’s funny in a dry, bruised way, but there’s real sadness underneath the jokes, especially in how the movie understands the cost of loving a flawed political figure while still wanting to believe in the project.
Bottom line
It can feel of its moment, and some of the scandal material has aged into a kind of historical quaintness, but the movie’s core insight hasn’t. Politics here is less about policy than performance, and the film is smart enough to show how often those two things are inseparable.
Top Letterboxd reviews
matt lynch (4★) · 186 likes
"I'll take the liar."
You'd think that this being pinned specifically to Clinton would somehow diminish its relevance, but unsurprisingly Nichols layers in race and class and gender and sex, and ends up with something so much more interesting than a glib skewering of politics: a wary dismantling of progressive ideals in the face of dumbass human nature that still leaves room for some scarce but precious hope.
kevintporter (3.5★) · 116 likes
Elaine May's script is super fun and even a little progressive in parts. In other moments you're reminded this is a movie made by the generation of baby-boomer neo-libs who kinda said "lol" about all the Clinton rape.
I remember starting this movie up from a Netflix red-envelope rental when I was 13 years old and turning it off about 20 minutes in. I didn't remember anything about it except one visual: Allison Janney's all-time pratfall in the first five… more
Dave (4.5★) · 94 likes
In the most underrated film of '98, John Travolta delivers one of his very best performances as a U.S. President who eerily mirrors a certain promiscuous real-life one. Critics and audiences responded harshly to the comparison, but that is not what made this film so brilliant.
It's Elaine May's script, infused with heart, wit and soul, blistering politics and media frenzy, and some of the funniest material captured on screen this year. Mike Nichols slyly directs a superb ensemble, including Billy Bob Thornton (funnier than I have ever seen him), Emma Thompson, Maura Tierney, and the Oscar-nominated, larger-than-life Kathy Bates.
Good, rich fun.
Will Sloan (2★) · 64 likes
Kathy Bates plays a hard-nosed master of dirty politics who is shocked — SHOCKED — that the Bill Clinton character is willing to out an opponent as gay.
Sean Gilman (4★) · 56 likes
"Come back, Shane! Run for president!"
Bill Clinton would have made a terrific Roman emperor. His personal shortcomings (gluttony and lust) would have been minor blemishes, expected really, and his intelligence and genuine desire to do good would have had the chance to flourish. As it is, the need to compromise for political reasons (the fury with which his opponents attacked him fueled in no small part by their disbelief that the American public simply didn't care that he lied… more
A broader, more aggressively satirical look at power, manipulation, and the private appetites behind public office.
Topics
political satire, campaign drama, ensemble cast, 1990s, media frenzy, moral compromise, character study, dark comedy, backroom politics, biographical fiction