Maximum Truth’s premise is so close to how the game of politics is played today, it’s not even funny. Luckily, the movie is.
The mockumentary follows political consultant Rick Klingman (Blockers’ Ike Barinholtz) on his latest assignment: digging up dirt on a California Congressional candidate (Max Minghella, 2021’s Spiral) who appears to be squeaky-clean.
Like that will ever stop Klingman — grifters gotta grift. For help, he ropes in his backward-capped bro bud, Simon (The Maze Runner himself, Dylan O’Brien), a protein-powder entrepreneur. Their boneheaded investigations lead them to the candidate’s former classmates, past co-workers, mere acquaintances — hell, anybody — who might point them to sexual harassment cases, sex tapes and other potential reputation besmirchers. At every turn, they fail with spectacular incompetence. Even with the crap allegations they invent.
Halfway through, I realized Klingman and Simon are basically the intentionally funny versions of real-life conspiracy theorists/convicted felons Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl. Barinholtz and his co-scripter, director David Stassen, allow viewers to draw parallels from the duo’s chicanery without smacking them across the face while asking, “Didja get it?” Another good example: After we meet Klingman leading a protest against a play about a gay Abe Lincoln, we meet his “roommate,” Marco (comedian Tony Rodriguez, stealing each scene); rather than underline the hypocrisy, the film lets it exist without comment.
With choice bits from Beth Grant (Little Miss Sunshine) as Klingman’s pain pill-popping benefactor, Kiernan Shipka (Sally from TV’s Mad Men) as a gun-loving would-be donor and comedian Jena Friedman (one of the funniest people on the planet, period), Maximum Truth feels more outlined than scripted, meaning I suspect the film is largely the result of improvisation.
That’s all fine and dandy since I laughed to myself throughout. I laughed out loud — and I mean loud — once, right after Klingman compares Simon to Jason Bourne; not top-of-mind known for comedy, O’Brien reacts with a move that’s entirely physical and one of the most hilarious things I’ve seen all year. I just wish the climax, lacking proper payoff, packed half that much punch. —Rod Lott