Everybody has been talking about this HBO movie, Game Change, for months now. We saw a teaser trailer back in December, and now the full-length trailer is out. Game Change is the movie about the 2008 election, only it’s not about how Pres. Obama became Pres. Obama or anything (or is it?), it’s just about the concentrated time frame of mid-August 2008 to November 2008, basically the last two-and-a-half months in the political landscape where EVERYTHING went crazy. And by crazy, I mean Sarah “Barracuda” Palin. Julianne Moore was cast as former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, and while I had my doubts about the casting, this trailer has eased my mind a little bit. Not only does Julianne seem to be doing a good-to-stellar job as Palin, Ed Harris really does look like John McCain here. Here’s the trailer:

You know what I like? I like that Julianne (and the film in general) deftly and smartly avoids making Palin into a caricature. Palin, by her own hand and by her opponents‘, can easily be made into a cartoon, a piece of fluff, a comedy bit, a party trick. The film seems to rely heavily on anecdotes that John Heilemann and Mark Halperin (authors of Game Change) compiled from disgruntled McCain staffers post-election. Is the portrait of Palin sympathetic? Probably not. But they haven’t made her into a punch line either.

Photos courtesy of WENN.