Journeys With George (2002)

Given a golden opportunity, Alexandra Pelosi only occasionally hits pay dirt in this off-the-cuff record of what it was like for pool reporters to cover the George W. Bush campaign in 2000. At first, Pelosi's gender proves to be something of an advantage; Bush clearly takes notice of her, saying, "I've always liked your stylishness." Here and in other vignettes, there's a sense of a good ol' boy flirting with a young woman (not unlike his predecessor, Bill Clinton), and at one point, he even gives her a peck on the cheek. In the film's first act (the primaries, followed by a summer intermission of fundraising and the convention, followed by the campaign against Al Gore), Bush flashes a looser and more playful demeanor than his rather stiff and awkward public face; he even makes fun, over the press plane's public address system, of a blooper he committed in one of his stump speeches. As the stakes grow higher, though, he seems to tamp down the playfulness and distance himself more from the reporters, but not entirely. Close to Election Day, Pelosi takes an informal poll of the press as to who they think will win, and when the overwhelmingly pro-Gore result leaks to the New York Post's page six gossip column, she finds herself frozen out by her colleagues, only to be "rescued" by Bush, who makes a public show that there are no hard feelings. What's ultimately frustrating about Journeys With George is that it's not an effective portrait of Bush, who is adept at slipping by any hard questions Pelosi throws at him on camera and does freeze her for a short time when she asks him in a public press conference how well he sleeps at night knowing how many executions his state has carried out. Nor is it a very penetrating look at the press corps, à la Timothy Crouse's classic book The Boys on the Bus. Fatigue, on both the part of the filmmaker and the film, sets in after a time, and there's a sense that Pelosi and her road-weary colleagues only want to get to Election Day in one piece. But, at 75 minutes, the film certainly doesn't wear out its welcome, and until another contender surfaces, this may be our best film record of the 2000 presidential campaign. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide