Mitt

1.5/5

When I imagine the filming of the Netflix exclusive documentary of Mitt Romney, Mitt, I think that the director, Greg Whiteley, was not prepared for the amount of loss that he’d be filming. The documentary starts pre-2008 election with Mitt Romney as an up-and-coming presidential hopeful that no one has ever heard of. No amount of shaky camera shots focused on the looks of disappointment on his campaign workers, or awkward family interviews could prepare me for just how lackluster and anticlimactic the Romney story really was.

As a Democrat, I’ve never been a real Mitt Romney fan, or at least, I never had a burning desire to watch his family footage from 2006. However, as a fan of both documentaries and American politics, watching Mitt seemed like a fine way to learn about the man behind the campaign.

Unfortunately, Mitt possesses all the qualities of a documentary that just doesn’t care about its subject. It hardly plays like a movie, but as a compilation of chronological footage of the campaign trail. While the numbers in favor of Romney rise and fall, the excitement I felt watching it never rose above stale. In fact, I’d say the only moment of slight interest I felt watching Mitt was when Romney put on a suit, saw it was wrinkled, and started ironing the jacket sleeves with the suit still on his body. But that isn’t even enough for me to endorse it. You can just look up pictures of it on the internet and not waste an hour and 32 minutes.

 Greg Whiteley’s documentary had all the ingredients to make a hard-hitting tell-all about the personal strife behind running for public office. Unfortunately, Mitt is about as much of a loss as Romney’s two-time presidential campaign.