Head Of State

When a political party's presidential hopeful dies unexpectedly, they question the possibility of finding a suitable replacement. Instead, they hit on the strategy of selecting someone who is likeable and can court minority voters. Even if the candidate has little chance of winning, in the hopes of setting themselves up for a future victory. They wind up selecting Mays Gilliam (Chris Rock), a local D. C. alderman. Although Gilliam is initially surprised by the selection and concerned about his ability to run a campaign, he agrees. Gilliam is encouraged by his brother Mitch (Bernie Mac), to tell the people exactly what he believes, without suger-coating the rhetoric. Much to the shock of those around him and to the media, he does so, receiving encouraging responses from his audiences. As he continues, he is forced to fight a dirty political smear campaign against the incumbent, and later discovers that members of his own party are plotting against him. When the election nears, he realizes that it may indeed be possible to win, but not if he can't keep his promises to the people.




Mays Gilliam, a Washington D.C. neighborhood Alderman, is about to be red-lined out of his job. But after the untimely death of the party frontrunner, Gilliam is plucked from obscurity, and thrust into the limelight as his party's nominee--for President of the United States. The players in Gilliam's life include: Mitch Gilliam, his unsophisticated older brother who becomes his running mate; Kim, his ex-girlfriend who had once dumped him, but who now has a sudden change of heart as she sees a chance at becoming First Lady; Martin Geller, his campaign manager; Lisa Clark, the woman who truly believes in Gilliam; and Debra Lassiter, the woman who doesn't have faith in his candidacy, and is serving as his reluctant advisor. Written by Sujit R. Varma




SYNOPSIS

Mays Gilliam (Chris Rock) is an alderman of the 9th Ward in the Washington D.C. area. After being fired from his post, Mays is surprisingly chosen as the party candidate for the presidency (after his party's original presidential and vice-presidential nominees die in a plane crash; their two separate planes crashed into each other) to run against sitting vice-president Brian Lewis. Assuming the election was already lost, the party decided to pick a likeable but losing minority candidate to improve their chances of another politician taking the office in the next presidential election. At first, Mays feels he will not be able to succeed as President because he would be representing the entire African-American populace, and does not want to do anything to mess it up. However, Mays begins to rise in the polls after his brother (Bernie Mac) persuades him to speak out for what he believes. He begins to talk about issues such as welfare, money, society, etc. After Lewis runs a series of attack ads including one saying Mays supports Cancer, Mays begins to fight back using what he claimed was "kissing" his opponent (Taking from Bugs Bunny-Elmer Fudd cartoons). In this strategy, Mays hires various individuals such as a KKK member to endorse his opponent, or dubs a videotape of Osama bin Ladin saying he hates America but likes Brian Lewis. This strategy allows Mays to gain more points in the election. As the voting day draws closer, Mays eventually finds out the reason why he was chosen as the party candidate, and fires some disloyal campaign operatives. He debates his opponent in which he manages to win the crowd over by speaking truth of the American life. Mays ends up winning the election and the presidency.