Hot Air is a 2019 drama about a right wing talk show host whose life takes a sudden turn when his 16-year-old niece comes crashing into his life.
Well, you can’t really call this a surprise, the political climate in the United States about as divisive as it gets, seemingly ripe for parody, or in the case of director Frank Coraci‘s latest social commentary Hot Air, heartwarming drama(?). Of course, the problem is, reality at this point is far more absurd so a film like this barely has any teeth, even as it tries to have some bite, skipping its paper thin agenda for something more familial. This is a film that plays it all too safe, ready to at least be funny, especially when considering its cast, but is a swing in a miss.
Lionel Macomb (Steve Coogan) is a right wing radio host with an incendiary agenda, half his audience stoking his fires and the other half on the streets picketing for his removal. He’s rich, powerful, and living a mostly consequence-free life. All good until one day, into his penthouse sneaks Tess (Taylor Russell), a 16-year-old girl claiming to be his niece, needing a place to stay now that her mother is in rehab. He relents, mostly due to his publicist (and girlfriend) Valerie Gannon (Neve Campbell), who thinks the child will be good for them. As she settles in, she struggles with what to do with her life while Lionel begins to warm to the girl and his new role, his attitude slowly taking a turn in another direction.
Opening with a diatribe on immigration that feels like a page from the current administration’s campaign platform, that’s about as far as it goes, quickly jumping lilly pads to a light comedy that is about as transparent as a pane of glass. None of that would be all that bad, but it’s so obvious, it barely moves, the whole thing on a straight track that doesn’t have the slightest bit of challenge. Lionel is immediately set up to be some kind of superficial a-hole, Tess walking in on him while he’s having sex with the maid and he not even caring, though that is just as quickly discarded the moment Valerie appears, this indiscretion feeling more like a red herring than anything that could better define the man. His real issue is the decline in ratings as a new voice jumps into the fiery pit of rage radio, but even that isn’t given much weight, the plot a checklist of radio clichés we’ve seen before.
That aside, the story does at least put most of its efforts into the relationships, and Russell is a strong presence, giving Tess plenty of energy. She’s great on camera and a surprisingly fun foe for Coogan’s deadpan delivery. It’s just too bad there’s no earned emotional kick, the script slog-footed in the mire of old tropes and generic drama, giving Lionel a troubled past that, with Tess in tow, helps him to redefine his world view. Thing is, we know it’s part of the process, the man a stiff block of clay soon to be reshaped, and while that could have some charms to it, just isn’t all that interesting.