Dick!
Ok, so I don’t know if it would be considered “political” but it’s fun as hell.
I gotta go with lissener’s suggestions of Bulworth and Bob Roberts.
Big fan of Chaplin’s the Dictator and the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup, myself, but the one that’s really gotten to me lately was V for Vendetta. OK, not strictly a comedy, but the pseudo-revolutionary feel-good tull was comic to me, at least.
How about a made-for-TV movie about the US military? If anybody had to wrestle with politics it was the group in
The Pentagon Wars.
My father was in the Army for years and was always telling me stories about the “fun” of trying to get various troop transporters built. To him, this movie was more of a documentary! Give it a try: You’ll never think of sheep the same way again! (Eww, not like that, either!)
If we count TV Shows, Benson and Spin City come to mind.
I don’t know if you can even get this, but if you enjoy Yes (Prime) Minister you should enjoy Peter Cook in The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer, a wondeful 1970 movie that seems to anticipate modern populist politics.
For those interested I should add the writing credits are:
Peter Cook
John Cleese
Graham Chapman
Kevin Billington
More specifically, it was essentially an account of the development of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. I love the part where the general is complaining that there’s isn’t a gun on it, so they have to make room for a hardpoint on which to mount a gun, then they have to make room for all the ammo to feed the gun, then they have to replace the steel armor with aluminum because the gun and ammo weigh too much…
Another couple suggestions:
Sidney Lumet’s Network:
Arthur Jensen: The world is a business, Mr. Beale; it has been since man crawled out of the slime. Our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there’s no war or famine, oppression or brutality - one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock - all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused. And I have chosen you, Mr. Beale, to preach this evangel.
Howard Beale: Why me?
Arthur Jensen: Because you’re on television, dummy.
Ashby’s Being There with Peter Sellers:
President “Bobby”: Mr. Gardner, do you agree with Ben, or do you think that we can stimulate growth through temporary incentives?
Chance the Gardener: As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden.
President “Bobby”: In the garden.
Chance the Gardener: Yes. In the garden, growth has it seasons. First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again.
President “Bobby”: Spring and summer.
Chance the Gardener: Yes.
President “Bobby”: Then fall and winter.
Chance the Gardener: Yes.
Benjamin Rand: I think what our insightful young friend is saying is that we welcome the inevitable seasons of nature, but we’re upset by the seasons of our economy.
Chance the Gardener: Yes! There will be growth in the spring!
Stranger
And another: Good Bye, Lenin. It’s a German film about a young man’s effort to shield his activist Communist mother from knowledge of the dissolution of the East Bloc and the collapse of Communism in East Germany in order to protect her fragile health. It ends up as more of a drama, but there are some great comedic, almost slapstick elements involving faked movie broadcasts, a group of young Young Octoboer-esque children, searching out crappy Communist-era goods in the flood of inexpensive, high quality imports from the West, and the Coca-Cola company. There’s several instances of homage to Stanley Kubrick (see the wedding video among others) and is quite well done up to the somewhat meladramatic ending.
Stranger
Yes, I saw that series when it was shown on Australian TV, amid all the build up to the 2000 Olympic Games, and it’s brilliant. Plus, in real life, there were a few scandals involving SOCOG (the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games), which made you wonder if those involved had been watching the fictional series and decided to do even better with the real thing.