A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : The Bob Thing : ‘Bob Roberts’ seeks ‘smart, hip’ filmgoers who’ll vote with their wallets

The movie “Bob Roberts” offers a different appeal to the electorate: “Vote First. Ask Questions Later.”

Clearly, this is not an orthodox political slogan, but the film’s teaser ads and posters are designed to make the movie’s fictional U.S. Senate campaign barely distinguishable from the world of real politics this fall.

Walking the fine line between truth and screen fiction is just how joint distributors Miramax Films and Paramount Pictures hope to appeal to the target audience of director and star Tim Robbins’ “Bob Roberts”--what they see as a “smart, hip” movie audience longing for a funny, satirical diversion from the current electioneering. “The Candidate” for the ‘90s.

Shot in mock-documentary style, it features Robbins as a guitar-strumming, right-wing candidate for a Pennsylvania Senate seat who uses reactionary lyrics sung Bob Dylan-style and dubious tactics to unseat bow-tied, fading liberal opponent Brickley Paiste (Gore Vidal). The movie opens Friday in limited release in Los Angeles, New York and, fittingly, Washington.

But whether an election year or not, these are usually the dog days of summer in the movie business and the appeal of “Bob Roberts” is a calculated risk, which is why Miramax and Paramount intend to open the independently produced $4-million feature slowly--hoping that its advance marketing to woo the media intelligentsia will crossover with similarly minded moviegoers.

Taking their cue from campaign strategists themselves, the distributors have pegged the release of “Bob Roberts” to Labor Day weekend--traditionally the start of the campaign season’s homestretch. “It’s a natural association,” said Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein. “No question (the release) should be timed to the election.”

Joint distributors Miramax and Paramount are supporting “Bob Roberts” with “a modest launch” (they would not reveal a dollar amount) that includes the cost to run trailers and newspaper advertisements in cities where the film will play as well as taking an unusual extra measure--for a picture of this size--of conducting a press junket last week in Los Angeles.

“This is not ‘Star Trek VI,’ ” said Barry London, president of worldwide distribution for Paramount. “It’s not a movie to over-hype and bludgeon with publicity. It’s a film we hope audiences will discover, as the press already has.”

A select crowd of political reporters and other visible media figures in New York were wined and dined by the distributors at a special screening during the Democratic National Convention to generally favorable critical reaction. Among the glittery, influential crowd: ABC news anchor Peter Jennings, Time magazine editor Walter Isaacson, literary agent Morton Janklow, gossip columnist Claudia Cohen, among others.

John McLaughlin, host of the often-raucous TV political show “The McLaughlin Group,” saw the movie at another private showing.

“It’s a remarkable tour de force for Tim Robbins; his versatility is awesome,” he said. “I found it hilarious and chilling, overstated and campy--a caricature. Anyone I know would enjoy it, definitely.” Plans to host a similar event at the Republican National Convention in Houston were scuttled, however. Robbins was opposed to screening the movie during either convention, although Miramax went ahead with its party plans in New York.

“I don’t see any courage of conviction on either (party’s) side,” Robbins said. “Bob Roberts” is intended to be “irreverent,” he said, while also a “biting indictment” of a political system where image--not issues--gets candidates elected.

An early cut was also shown to such publications as the headline-making Vanity Fair, whose contributing writer Christopher Buckley dubbed it “ ‘The Player’ of politics.” Benefit premieres are set for Tuesday for the Film Society of Lincoln Center and on the next night at the Writers Guild of America-West in Los Angeles for the media watchdog group FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), on whose board Robbins sits.

Parties and screenings go a long way in getting the word out. But the distributors can’t count too heavily upon image makers to influence audiences who otherwise might be in the mood for broad commercial fare. Therefore, “Bob Roberts” will open initially on only eight screens, widening later to a broader release in selected cities including Chicago and San Francisco on Sept. 11.

Miramax’s Weinstein said that if the picture grosses anywhere from $10 million to $15 million, he’d be “thrilled.”

Robbins didn’t want to speculate about how the picture will do at the box office. His most hoped-for scenario--short of seeing it become a hit--is that “a discourse will result” with those who see it.

Gore Vidal offers a different, some might say, slightly jaded view, recalling the experience of seeing how his successful 1959 Broadway play “The Best Man”--a political satire of a presidential campaign set in the Eisenhower/Kennedy era--went over when released as a movie starring Henry Fonda five years later.

Critics loved it, but as Vidal remembers, “it went from flop to classic without any intervening success. Every four years they run it on television. Thank you very much.”

He is more hopeful for “Bob Roberts” and calls it “the closest, most realistic” depiction ever done by Hollywood on American politics.

Vidal says: “The American people know that something is terribly wrong with the political process; they’re not voting in record numbers. Who can say? Maybe they’ll go to ‘Bob Roberts’ instead.”

Even “The Candidate,” director Michael Ritchie’s prophetic look at the Golden Boy candidacy that got John McKay (Robert Redford) elected senator from California, grossed an unimpressive $2.5 million in its initial run in 1972, according to Variety.

“When all is said and done, it’s still entertainment,” Weinstein said. “We can strategize all we want, but ultimately the success of the movie depends upon whether audiences discover what we have--that it’s wickedly funny, a very smart black comedy.”