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Parents' Guide to

The Campaign

By S. Jhoanna Robledo, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Comedic superstars aim their raunchy satire at politics.

Movie R 2012 85 minutes
The Campaign Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 16+

Based on 10 parent reviews

age 14+

Horrible, not funny movie

Sometimes we relax our standards for a funny, slapstick, even mildly inappropriate movie to watch together as a family. This movie is just dumb. It's not funny. It's a royal waste of time. Stick to the classics.

This title has:

Too much sex
age 18+

Raunchy, amusing

This is a typically raunchy Will Ferrell comedy. Its just inappropriate for kids especially because the lines around acceptable humor and unacceptable humor is very blurred.

This title has:

Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much consumerism
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (10 ):
Kids say (21 ):

Like a comedy roast, THE CAMPAIGN is stuffed with would-be hilarious moments, egged on by stunt after stunt from the able stars. And fair is fair: Whichever genius came up with this pairing deserves a bonus. Combining Ferrell's oafy humor and Galifianakis' creepy-funny vibe is a win, especially in the context of the madness that is an election run-up.

But two-thirds of the way through, The Campaign starts to feel like the endless election, with no clear idea how to end or even when. We're happy to be laughing, but we'd like to know where we're going. Part of the fun of a riotous satire like this is that we know that, no matter how delicious every moment feels, in the end we'll be able to relish it in its entirety. But here we get an unsurprising and entirely conventional, finale. With The Campaign, the parts are greater than the whole. Let's vote already.

Movie Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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