How to Vote is a total mess of a speech

Is it worth your time?

If you like old-school, slightly neurotic comedy, you'll probably get a kick out of How to Vote. It’s not exactly a masterpiece of cinema, but it’s a quick, weird look at how people used to make fun of political speeches. If you're looking for deep social commentary, move along. You’ll hate it if you can’t stand people stuttering through a script.

Robert Benchley is the king of the 'oops' face here. He plays this poor, under-prepared assistant who has to stand in for a candidate with laryngitis. It’s basically a ten-minute exercise in pure, unadulterated stage fright.

The awkwardness is the point

The whole thing hinges on him trying to read a speech he clearly hasn't looked at before. He keeps losing his place. He keeps looking at the audience like they’re about to throw rotten tomatoes at him. It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in Buster, What's Next?, just with more suits and less slapstick.

There is this one moment where he messes up a line and just stops dead. He stares at the page. The silence is actually painful. You can feel the room getting colder. It’s a bold choice for such a short film.

• The candidate's laryngitis is barely mentioned after the first minute.
• The audience reactions look like they were filmed in a completely different room.
• Benchley’s hand gestures are all over the place, like he’s trying to swat a bee.

It doesn’t try to be high art. It feels like someone just turned a camera on a guy having a breakdown in front of a microphone. It’s not like the grander scale stuff you see in Les misérables, but for a quick laugh, it lands okay.

Is it perfectly paced? No. Does it fall apart by the end? Absolutely. But sometimes that’s exactly what you need. A little bit of controlled chaos to remind you that public speaking has always been a nightmare. 🎙️