The film's plot is centered on politics, specifically what members of Congress and lobbyists do to get what they want in Washington, D.C.
Plot
Florida con man Thomas Jefferson Johnson crosses paths with Congressman Jefferson Davis "Jeff" Johnson at a party and becomes intrigued after overhearing just how wealthy members of Congress can become through corruption. After Congressman Johnson dies of a heart attack while having sex with his secretary, con man Johnson decides to run for Congress in the election to replace him to take advantage of money from lobbyists. Omitting his first name, and abbreviating his middle name, he calls himself "Jeff" Johnson. He then manages to get on the ballot by pitching a seniors organization, the Silver Foxes, to endorse him.
Once on the election ballot, he uses the dead Congressman's old campaign material and runs a low budget campaign that appeals to name recognition, figuring most people do not pay much attention and simply vote for the "name you know." He wins a slim victory and is off to Washington, a place where the "streets are lined with gold."
Initially, the lucrative donations and campaign contributions roll in, but as he learns the nature of the con game in Washington D.C., he starts to see how the greed and corruption makes it difficult to address issues such as campaign finance reform, environmental protection, and the possibility that electromagnetic fields from overhead power lines may be giving kids in a small town cancer, which the electric power company is concealing.
In trying to address these issues, Congressman Johnson finds himself double-crossed by the powerful chairman of the Committee on Power and Industry, Rep. Dick Dodge. Johnson decides to fight back the only way he knows how: with a con. Johnson succeeds and exposes Dodge as corrupt. As the film ends, it appears likely that Johnson will be thrown out of Congress on account of his previously unknown criminal record, but he defiantly declares, "I'm gonna run for President!" then breaking the fourth wall.
Eddie Murphy appeared in this Disney-produced film after a string of Paramount Picturesstar vehicles.[3]Bernard Weinraub, film reviewer for The New York Times, offered his opinion that Murphy wished to "move beyond the tepid material" he had been given by Paramount.[4] Writer and producer Marty Kaplan said of Murphy's involvement "I feel like I've come close to winning the jackpot".[4]
Director Jonathan Lynn later said: "It was the unlikely combination of Eddie Murphy and politics that drew me to it. The script was by a Washington insider, Marty Kaplan, who had been Vice President Mondale's speech writer. I loved working with Eddie, whom I had admired since 48 Hours and Trading Places. He was a superbly inventive comedy actor, and a delight to work with."[6]
Reception
Box office
The Distinguished Gentleman was released in December 1992 and went on to gross approximately $47 million in the United States and Canada.[7][8][9] Internationally, the film grossed $39 million[2] for a worldwide total of $86 million.
In an interview in 1996, Eddie Murphy said that the movie did not work like his previous movies because "it appeals to a different audience".[10]
Critical response
Critical reaction to the movie however was mostly negative. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times liked the premise and what it had going for it, but criticized it for its "slow pacing", despite its being a screwball comedy.[11]Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly called it "a sterile, joyless comedy, photographed in ugly, made-for-video close-up and featuring a farce plot so laborious it suggests John Landis on a bad day".[12] On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 13%, based on 16 reviews, and an average rating of 4.03/10.[13]
The movie won the feature film Environmental Media Award in 1993,[14] and in 2001 the Political Film Society gave the film its special award of the year.[15]
