“...the joys, struggles, and sorrows it takes to be an Obama impersonator.”
“..a moving portrait of a man with the audacity to fight for his own American dream...”
“9 out of 10… An achievement in tone, finding the perfect balance between thought-provoking and entertaining film.”
“4 out of 5… Hollywood itself couldn’t have crafted a more perfectly sad story and equally deserved triumph.”
What if one day you looked in the mirror and saw the most powerful man in the world staring back at you?
When Louis Ortiz shaved off his goatee one day in 2008, his life changed forever. He looked in the mirror and he didn’t see himself – a middle-aged, unemployed Puerto Rican father from the Bronx. He saw the face of change, of hope… of money.
Louis cashed in quickly, landing roles on HBO, and in international commercials and movies. He even met the Dalai Lama at a benefit concert where he performed with a band of impersonators of Nobel Prize winners. It seemed like a golden ticket, but overnight success separated him from his daughter, whom he promised to always look after when his wife died. And as Obama’s first term wore on and his popularity sank, the gigs grew more problematic and harder to come by. By 2011, Louis gives up on the career, calling it both a blessing and a curse, and he reconnects with his daughter.
Still out of work as the 2012 election draws near, Louis changes his mind and decides if he tries harder, he still has time to cash in. This time the stakes are higher, and Louis needs not just “The Look” but “The Voice.” So Louis signs a deal with a manager to help him “become Obama.”
With the guidance of a seasoned “Bill Clinton” and competition from a hard-working “Mitt Romney,” Louis sets off on a hilarious Twilight Zone-esque campaign trail. His manager pushes him to abandon his old self and by election day in 2012, Louis winds up shouldering a crisis that feels as big as the divisive presidential election and as small as one man’s search for his true self.