Liberty’s Secret should have been a play. That’s the main problem with it. If it were a local musical theatre production, I would be perfectly charmed with it. But as a movie, it consistently annoyed me.
Liberty’s Secret is a political parody musical. It follows floundering Republican presidential candidate, Kenny Weston and his team of spin doctors trying to save his campaign. One member of his team is Nikki, a no-nonsense, intelligent lesbian. On the campaign trail, Weston visits a church and discovers Liberty Smith. Liberty is the likable, wholesome preacher’s daughter and choir leader. The decision is then made to use the likeable and all-American Liberty as a surrogate for Weston’s campaign. But whoops! Liberty and Nikki of course, fall in love.
Liberty’s Secret is a movie made by and starring Musical Theatre Kids. Each of the cast and the movie itself is very earnest, very perky and a little amateur. But of course, they’re not Musical Theatre Kids. They’re Musical Theatre Adults so that’s less charming still. The film itself revels in the tropes that accompany a musical love story. There’s no effort or interest in deconstructing or surprising here. That’s not bad in and of itself but if you’re going to lean into cliches, you have to do them well or, at least, be funny.
And wow if this movie isn’t funny. As a political parody, it’s toothless and outdated. The politician character is primarily a George Bush parody. But Liberty’s Secret was made in 2016. In an era where Trump would have been campaigning during shooting, Liberty’s Secret instead chooses to parody events a decade old. It makes the movie feel like it should have been released in 2004. But even it that were true, it still wouldn’t be good. There’s no satire here. Nothing biting at all. The only jokes about politics Liberty’s Secret has is that politicians can be bumbling and the entire political machine is built on dishonesty. The only commentary is a basic “Republicans bad” statement. None of this is groundbreaking. None of this is funny. The understanding of both politics and humour this movie portrays is equivalent to that of a 12 year old.
The lesbian love story bit of the movie isn’t the worst bit about Liberty’s Secret but it’s still not good. Liberty and Nikki have a very musical kind of love story wherein they share a few moments of heated eye contact and a dance number and that’s the basis for them claiming to be in love with each other. This is something I could buy in a stage musical or a better movie but not here. Because on top of the questionable basis for the love story, the actresses have minimal chemistry and their characters are inherently different in terms of personality. Had this move not ended with Liberty and Nikki’s wedding, I would never have believed this was a relationship that would’ve worked out long-term.
Liberty’s Secret is an obnoxious kind of bad. But it feels so juvenile that it feels like punching down if I’m too harsh towards it. Frankly, Liberty’s Secret just didn’t deserve to be a movie. The story is weak, the songs too frequent, too long and neither catchy nor well-written. As a local theatre production maybe this all would have been fine but as a movie, none of it works.
Overall rating: 3.1/10
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