The poster for The Campaign features Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis nose to nose

Being an election year, it seems fitting to have a comedy released that plays on the stereotypes of the typical politicians we see portrayed in the news.

The trailer for THE CAMPAIGN struck me as a perfect pairing between Zach Galifianakis and Will Ferrell, both playing to their comedic strong suits. Ferrell seems to be doing a variation on his George W. Bush impression and Galifianakis seems like a cross between his characters from DINNER WITH SCHMUCKS and DUE DATE.

Check out the combative poster below.

Synopsis: When long-term congressman Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) commits a major public gaffe before an upcoming election, a pair of ultra-wealthy CEOs plot to put up a rival candidate and gain influence over their North Carolina district. Their man: naïve Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), director of the local Tourism Center. At first, Marty appears to be the unlikeliest possible choice but, with the help of his new benefactors’ support, a cutthroat campaign manager and his family’s political connections, he soon becomes a contender who gives the charismatic Cam plenty to worry about. As Election Day closes in, the two are locked in a dead heat, with insults quickly escalating to injury until all they care about is burying each other, in this mud-slinging, back-stabbing, home-wrecking comedy from “Meet the Parents” director Jay Roach that takes today’s political circus to its logical next level. Because even when you think campaign ethics have hit rock bottom, there’s room to dig a whole lot deeper.

Jay Roach has spent the last six years dealing with the real world comedy of errors surrounding the last few Presidential elections, so now he can bring that political knowledge to a purely fictional story.  I like where this movie is headed.  It strikes me as a big screen cousin to PARKS AND RECREATION.

THE CAMPAIGN opens August 10, 2012.