Trailer Time: 'The Campaign', starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis

Earlier this week saw the release of two promo trailers, really rival campaign ads from Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis' characters in The Campaign. The political comedy is directed by Jay Roach, no stranger to the battles on Capitol Hill after directing Game Change and Recount, and has him behind the camera for the story of two politicians jockeying for vote in a small congressional district. I wasn't that big of a fan of those spots, as they just felt sorta flat. In particular, Ferrell's performance bore too much of a resemblance to his George W. Bush impression. Now that the trailer has been released, some of my concerns have been assuaged, but something still isn't quite clicking.

Ferrell plays Cam Brady, and as the name might imply, he's the ultimate prettified candidate. The one who looks the part with his perfect hair and gleaming smile. He's the guy who'll say whatever is required of him at the time. And then there's Galifianakis as Marty Huggins, and he's....well, the opposite. He's uncouth, untrained, unfamiliar with the way of politics and generally has no idea what's going on. Although that quality also makes him more real than Brady, who looks like a stuffed shirt. The biggest problem I have now is that there simply aren't very many laugh lines. They may be trying to keep them under wraps, but I'm not so sure. Even Ferrell's performance, which has had some of the goofiness toned down since the earlier promos, now has nothing special about it at all. They may be banking too much on people showing up just out of name recognition, and we saw how that fared for Ferrell with Casa de mi Padre.

I'm not so sure about this one, so maybe the supporting cast can pump some life into it. Jason Sudeikis, Dan Akroyd, Brian Cox, Dylan McDermott, John Lithgow, and Katherine LaNasa co-star. Head to the voting booth and cast your vote for The Campaign on August 10th....