Kevin Costner has made some bad decisions since his career heyday. "Swing Vote," somewhat surprisingly, isn't one of them.

"Swing Vote" doesn't offer great comedy or great political satire, but it offers just enough of both to make an audience giggle and pay attention for most of its two hours.

Frankly, the movie's premise isn't very promising. Costner's Bud Johnson is beer-chugging white trash, a single dad trying to raise an exceptional daughter in a broken-down trailer without hot water or a telephone.

At the prodding of his civic-minded daughter, Bud agrees to vote in a very close presidential election. Circumstances, however, lead to his vote not being counted by the computer, and wouldn't you know it, the election comes down to a complete dead heat in New Mexico -- only Bud's uncounted vote remains to decide the leader of the free world.

It's preposterous, but the movie gives a decent stab at making the premise seem at least theoretically possible -- and heck, it's probably not any more preposterous than what happened in Florida in 2000.

Both presidential candidates and their entire political machines descend on tiny Texaco, N.M., and do everything in their power to win the support of one apathetic, uninformed voter.

Kelsey Grammer does fairly well as the conservative incumbent with a touch of conscience. Dennis Hopper is less believable as the liberal democrat from Vermont. Stanley Tucci and Nathan Lane are their respective obsessed and driven campaign managers.

Costner isn't particularly believable as a deadbeat redneck, but his character is affable and consistent -- at least until the conclusion. The film is as much about a father-daughter relationship as it is about politics, and Carroll holds up her end as the responsible and clever daughter, though she only occasionally seems really human. As a pair, they're appealing.

"Swing Vote" is at its best when it's satirizing the ludicrousness of the election process -- for instance, with TV ads whipped up to appeal solely to Bud. To its credit, though, the movie never devolves into slapstick.

The film, unfortunately, concludes on a bit of a flat note. As my movie date asked, what if Bud decided to vote for Ralph Nader? Now THAT would have been a funny ending.

Rental Recommendation: HBO's "Recount" retells the fascinating story of Florida's hanging chads and features an excellent cast led by Kevin Spacey. It should be out on DVD in a week or two. Grade: A-

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