A man joins the political campaign of a smooth-operator candidate for president of the USA.<BR>&nbsp;

A man joins the political campaign of a smooth-operator candidate for president of the USA.

In Primary Colors, Jack Stanton, governor of one of America`s southern states, is campaigning for the Democratic Presidential nomination. On the surface, Stanton seems to be ideal presidential material; charming, handsome, charismatic, he genuinely cares about the under-privileged. His wife, Susan, perhaps even more ambitious than her husband, is a driving force in his campaign team. The story`s seen through the eyes of a somewhat reluctant new recruit, Henry Burton, Adrian Lester, the idealistic grandson of a Civil Rights leader. Burton feels Stanton is a man he should support. But Stanton proves to have serious weaknesses... Elaine May`s adaptation of the anonymous novel which was inspired by the Clinton campaign for the Presidency may have slightly watered down the original, but it`s still powerful stuff. Under Mike Nichols` sure hand, we`re never in any doubt who Stanton is supposed to be; while he plays lip service to liberal causes, this ruthless and amoral man is, to put it mildly, deeply flawed, as Burton and other members of the President`s team, including political expert Richard Jemmons, Billy Bob Thornton, and eccentric researcher Libby Holden, Kathy Bates, eventually discover. John Travolta and Emma Thompson are scarily convincing in their roles - Thompson is especially good in conveying the naked ambition of the would-be President`s wife, an ambition constantly thwarted by her husband`s infidelities and indiscretions. This first-rate production is a deeply cynical depiction of the processes of selecting presidential candidates in America.