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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 59830
Released: February 12, 2008 |
| Our Price: $3.50 |
| Used Price: $0.14 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Vowing to move to Canada if John Kerry loses the 2004 election, fervent liberal John Logue (Breckin Meyer) suddenly finds himself with no job, no girlfriend... and no country! Making good on his "campaign promise," Logue finds a traveling companion--a sexy, mysterious woman named Chloe (Anna Paquin)--and heads north. But Chloe is not all that she seems, and their journey takes more twists and turns than either could have imagined in this romantic comedy that's as poignant as it is "disarmingly fun" (Martin Kelley, CinemATL).
Description of Blue State:
Blue State looks at just how far one young man will go to prove his point that the wrong candidate won the 2004 presidential elections. When John Kerry loses to George W. Bush, one of Kerry's campaign workers makes good on his promise to move to Canada if Bush is elected president. The disgruntled volunteer John (Breckin Meyer, Clueless) is a borderline slacker who most likely would've been too lazy to move anywhere if his friends didn't remind him about his promise. Then, too, there's the invitation from a Canadian dating service that promises him a bevy of women to date if he heads north. Heading to a different country is daunting (and can be expensive), so John finds someone willing to share the expenses of driving from California to Canada. Chloe (played by Anna Paquin, The Piano) is a lovely and somewhat mysterious young woman who challenges John's opinions and makes him think about why he believes what he believes. They bicker in the way that people do when they are attracted to each other. Chloe also has a few secrets of her own, some of which she hides behind ambivalence and a tiny bit of fear. Paquin, who also served as one of the film's executive producers, is particularly convincing in her role: Smart, sweet and cynical, she complements Meyer's endearing acting style. The filmmakers make no apologies for their political leanings; though this romantic comedy would like viewers to think about what is happening in U.S. politics, it doesn't bludgeon the point too often. Where the film falters occasionally is in the hefty dialogue between Chloe and John. Do people really talk like that? And if they do, shouldn't they stop for their own sake? --Jae-Ha Kim
Blue State Reviews:
i liked this.... 
2009-08-08 - but i liked the relationship between chloe and john even more than i did the plot....chloe was a much more intersting character...she was conservative, but she was far from right wing...with blue hair and a nose ring, she would've been more at home in a coffeehouse than in the army...for a liberal, john was a douche...everything about his life was so p.c. and so mapped out. he only bought gas from stations that didn't use mid-eastern oil , he didn't eat meat and he lived his lifed on a timeline....and yet the chemistry between the two was undeniable....the best kinds of characters are those who are not " black and white " but have a lot of gray in them...we learn later that john's family is very much conservative and that he lost a brother in iraq...chole fought in the iraq war, but deserted after a tour of duty as a way of protest after the army recruiter lied to her that she wouldn't see combat...this movie shows the personal costs of dissent...in one scene, john and chloe stay with a baby boomer who came to canada to escape the vietnam war...while john admires the man for taking a stand, the guy wonders if he would've been better off staying at home...one scene which john and a woman are applying for a marriage license is good, because it shows how canadians percieve americans and their resentment towards the u.s....i won't give away the ending...i'll just quote my dad " when a man does something drastic or something to make his life better, a woman is usually the reason behind it...
Blue State is worthy of your vote and viewing 
2008-12-04 - During the 2004 Presidential Election between John Kerry and George Bush there were many on the left that pledged that should George W. Bush get re-elected that they would in turn move to Canada. Though often times the comments were made somewhat tongue in cheek, there was a widespread ongoing belief that should George Bush be re-elected that Canada would see a large influx of angry American Democrats crossing into the land to our north.
In the movie Blue State, John Logue (Breckin Meyer) is a Democratic blogger who runs the political blog The Donkey Revolution. Like many good Democrats, Logue decides that he would invest his life in the 2004 campaign and work tirelessly toward the goal of getting John Kerry elected President. One night while he was celebrating some of the party's recent upswing, Logue makes an impassioned statement that should John Kerry not win he would move to Canada. Of course, the local television crew was present for the statement and ran Logue's declaration on the nightly news.
So as we all know, Kerry was indeed not elected and Bush waltzed his way into a second term in the White House. Though Logue's comment back at the time might have seemed like nothing more than a half-hearted plea to drum up additional support for Kerry, when one of Logue's friends calls him on it, Logue decides that maybe the right thing to do is in fact to really move to Canada.
Logue posts in his local coffee house of choice a flyer seeking a companion to make the voyage to Canada with. Located in California, Logue could certainly use someone that could both split the costs and the driving time. Through a series of interviews he is quickly able to weed out some of those that truly would not make the cut. But then walks in Chloe Hamon (Anna Paquin).
Chloe basically knows all the right things to say and to Logue her easiness on the eyes likely gave her another check in the positive attributes column of reasons why Logue should pick Chloe as his travel mate. John decides that he will give Chloe a shot and there is a certain mystique to her that perhaps pushes John to like his selection even more.
As the two are traversing along to Canada they make a few stops along the way and truly begin to learn more and more about one another. Logue determined that he would like to stop at his parents' home which while he knew could likely turn into a drawn out argument in actuality turned into far more than that.
Once they get to the border, Chloe reveals to John a secret that she had been keeping for the whole ride. There is initially a bit of hesitation in entering Canada, but ultimately the two do cross the border and begin their new life in Canada.
Canada brings a whole new outlook on love, life and politics for both John and Chloe. The people that they meet in Canada help to craft their beliefs a bit more as it relates to their own personal lives. The two grow closer emotionally and romantically but perhaps philosophically there becomes a bit of a split between the two.
Blue State is a rather comic film that at times is more comedy than political, at other times is more romance than comedy and at times is more political than romance. There is sort of the something for everyone kind of quality to this film although ultra right wing conservatives might find some of the humor quite mundane.
What happens toward the end of the film is a bit too foreseen and hokey than the rest of the film really proves to be. It need not take a rocket scientist to assume what the likely fate of the two travelers might have entailed.
Released in February 2008, Blue State certainly had enough time to soak up the loss of John Kerry's campaign to work the emotions and thoughts of so many into the plot in a pretty good way. The humor is not slapstick comedy, but there are some good parts to the film that sure could have picked so many of us up immediately following Bush's re-election. Blue State is a film worth watching and just like each and every vote should be given your utmost consideration.
An independent film worth seeing 
2008-03-13 - Remember back in 2004 when half the country was rooting for Kerry, and we all know what happened afterwards. There were some of us who supported Kerry, campaigned for him, donated funds, etc., and who had also sworn to move to Canada if Bush were reelected again. Imagine following that one person who actually did move to Canada, and then you'll have Blue State. had great plot, the acting was great and characters were believable. Simply put, if you voted for Kerry in 2004 (which were 59 millions of you folks out there), first remember to vote for Obama in the coming election, and secondly watch this movie because you'll love it. Hopefully Marshall Lewy will treat us with another movie about this upcoming election in 2008, and let's hope for a happier ending this time around.
Working title: "Zany Road Trip To Canada With A Stupid Bitch" 
2008-03-01 - It sounded like a fun idea reading the back of the box, but...
1. Why did John need to find a buddy to make the trip in the first place? Especially given the fact that he was headed for a place called "Marry a Canadian." It doesn't make sense to bring along some chick that you sort of want to hook up with if you plan on marrying a Canadian. Grow some balls and make the trip on your own.
2. Why did he even go to his parents' house when they (mainly his dad) are obviously completely insane? He could have just skipped it. And at this point it should have been totally obvious to him that he and Chloe were not making a love connection but were "just friends." So why the hell should he care what his parents "might think" of her?
3. Speaking of Chloe, what did John see in her in the first place? She's mean, fake, condescending, transparently NOT liberal (in a way his character should have been able to spot a mile away), shoots him down all the time and then whines and gives him the evil eye when he hooks up with someone else. One scene she's pointing out that they're not dating, the next scene she's all pissed that he's ignoring her. Make up your mind, stupid bitch.
== Real spoilers start here, but don't worry, you don't want to see this movie anyways because it was stupid. ==
4. Chloe gets mad at John because he "lied to her" about the exact nature of the people he was going to see in Canada. What the hell? They didn't become buddies for life before embarking on the trip. They'd already arrived, so if she didn't like the place, she could have just taken off! What the hell did she need to stay with him at that point for, especially given that she had such disdain for him. Not to mention that she lied to him much worse by not mentioning that she was DESERTING FROM THE FREAKING ARMY.
5. If I ever sleep with a chick who has essentially no respect for me and nothing in common with me, the way John does at the end of the film, I hope the girl at least has the decency to shoot me in the face first.
6. Hey John, nice way to start your campaign for Senate in the USA in the film's final scene, by hooking up with a deserter. I'm totally sure the pundits won't smear you all over the place for that one.
If I could give this film zero stars I would have. I will never have those hours of my life back. Don't waste your time or money!
If you promise to go to Canada is Bush is re-elected, then you have to go
2008-02-17 - I am not exactly sure when it was decided that blue was for Democrats and red was for Republicans, but that sure is codified in the political consciousness of all Americans by this time in the history of the known universe. I think that once upon a time they used to switch back and forth on which party was which color from one presidential election to the next, but that might be just wishful retroactive thinking on my part. Of course, now we have potentially purple states that could be switching from one color to the next, so it is not like these colors are forever. Once upon a time I thought about creating bumper stickers that would say "Red State, Blue Heart" or "Blue State, Red Heart," but adding to the political disharmony of the nation just did not seem worth the profit.
John (Breckin Meyer) probably would have wanted a "Red Nation, Blue Heart" bumper sticker, because he is living in California (and "Blue State, Blue Heart" is just plain smug rather than a colorful act of defiance). John was campaigning full-time for the Kerry-Edwards ticket in the 2004 election, and during a moment of anticipatory euphoria (or in reaction to all the doors being slammed in his face by people voting for Bush-Cheney), John declares that he is so sure of a Democratic victory that if the Republicans actually won--he would move to Canada. In the aftermath of Bush's victory John is somewhat surprised to see that people really do expect him to head for the border. After all, the promise was taped and appeared on television, which, of course, somehow means he has to go. His disgust over the election, coupled with the lost of both his job and his girlfriend, soon convinces him there is nothing left for him in the U.S. Besides, he can write his "Donkey Revolution" blog just as easily in Canada. Plus, there is an organization in Winnipeg that helps settle American "refugees." However, it is not really a road trip movie if you go by yourself, so John begins interviewing potential travel buddies.
Of course he picks Chloe (Anna Panquin), who has blue hair and clearly seems to be saying what John obviously wants to hear about politics and the invention. But that is okay because John has stopped listening. However, Chloe has her own reasons for leaving the country, which John will discover in due time (i.e., right before they cross the border). Driving up the coast there is a convenient but quite uncomfortable stop at the house of John's parents. Mom (Joyce Krenz) is dismayed John is stilling on that vegetarian kick, while Dad (Richard Blackburn) presides over the dining room table like it is a super conservative talk show (I mean he literally acts and talks like he has a radio show and John is a liberal guest who needs to be eviscerated for his listeners). When they get to Winnipeg, they meet up with Gloria (Adrana O'Neill), who runs a "Marry-A-Canadian" website.
At this point I was thinking that it was like John and Chloe had traveled back to the Sixties, an idea that is reinforced when they run into an American expatriate who came to Canada to dodge the draft (there is a wonderful line where the old guy wonders why Americans would flee the country at a time when there is no longer a draft). I round up on "Blue State" because while it looked like writer-director Marshall Lewy ("Future Imperfect") is suggesting that John would have been happier living in the late 1960s, the film's ending suggets that the more accurate time frame might have been the early 1960s. Meyer and Panquin are the best things in this 2007 Indie film, mainly because our initial sense that they are "out there" is reined in by all the wackier people that they meet along the way. Besides, I appreciate the irony that leaving the United States is the best way to find out what it means to be an American.
