See Arnold Run

I started watching this a little ways in and the whole thing is just ridiculous. Granted, the whole story of Arnold Schwarzenegger is ridiculous, albeit I'm a fan of his, the movie is just silly. Early on we get a chance to see "Gary Coleman" who is clearly a normal sized man sitting on his knees to make him look like the same size as Gary. Things like this go to show how stupid this thing really is.

The one plus side is Roland Kickinger who finally gets a serious role. He was pretty funny in Son of the Beach, which is also ridiculous, but I was hoping to get a chance to see him again in something. He's not a horrible actor but he's not incredible either which makes him perfect to play Arnold.

This is a case where the direction is fantastic (ie: imagery, symbolism, pacing, blocking, getting as much as you can out of terrible actors), but the written story is horrendous. They left out the fact that Arnold was wildly successful in not only body building, but real estate and the restaurant business. They also made him appear to be clueless and out of touch with not only his political advisers but the world and the media. Arnold is a shrewd businessman that is completely aware of his surroundings.

Again I must say I was impressed with James Rogers' direction. He did a lot with a poor script, bad actors and minimal funding.

Last night i actually sat down and watched See Arnold Run. Surprisingly i actually did enjoy the movie. I've always been an Arnold fan ever since i first saw Terminator but never really knew much about him until this movie. Being from Canada, i was vaguely aware that he was running for Governor of California but did not follow the race never believing that they would elect an actor to represent them. Imagine my shock when he won, but watching this movie i learned that politics has always been a big part of his life. I thought this movie was an interesting look at all the work that goes into being Governor. The actor who plays him, Jürgen Prochnow was not bad. I don't think he looked much like him, but then again it's tough to find a man Arnold's age who looks as fantastic as he does! The actor who played him as a bodybuilder, Roland Kickinger bore a striking resemblance to Arnold, both in body and voice. I was actually half convinced at some points that it was him or a family member of his even though i knew it wasn't. Quite honestly i thought that this movie was interesting and a good watch for anyone who is interested in Arnold or in politics. I plan to follow his tenure as Governor to see if he is more then just an actor. Maybe someday they will change the law that states that you have to be born in America to be President and Arnold will run for President. That would make an interesting movie none the less, just hopefully they hold on the stupid one liners this time around!

The Universe found a way to combine my love of trashy celebrity biographies with trashy political exposé and media studies. I sincerely enjoyed the way this story was told, Cody Brink as young Arnold was excellent, as was Mariel Hemingway as Arianna Huffington. William Bradley, unfortunately, was a terrible idea, I mean the man no harm but whom ever decided that gubernatorial candidate Schwarzenegger was an appropriate part for him was very, very wrong. I do not feel the film was especially mean or friendly to the Governor; it was a fine piece of light hearted entertainment about a heavy, ridiculous moment in our political and social history.

The actors portraying both young and current Arnold have some facial similarity to him. Roland Kickinger ("young Arnold") also has the right body for the job, but here the similarities end: Jürgen Prochnow ("old Arnold") is too old for this casting, has no bodily resemblance to a bodybuilder, looks too short and his acting is too gloomy. There are also other things in the movie that have very bad fit with reality. "Old Arnold" is dominated by his wife, lacks all shred of leadership (as opposed to the real charismatic Arnold). "Young Arnold" is a loner, desperately trying to succeed, while the truth was that Arnold enjoyed hilarious success even before he set foot on American soil, and was actually brought over by a strong sponsor (Weider). I wondered whether the director saw "Pumping Iron", because he missed the real atmosphere around young Arnold, as well as some aspects of his personality. Not all is bad, but having followed Arnold since 1970 - I was disappointed. I hope a better re-make will be done some time into the future. Even a mix-up of the original Pumping Iron + actual clips from the real campaign would have made a better result. Not recommended (5/10).