Bud is in the unlikely situation that his vote will determine who becomes the next US president. A few days earlier, while he was passed out in his pickup truck at the end of the last voting day, his precocious daughter Molly (Madeline) tried to vote for him, but the voting machine malfunctioned, leaving his vote uncast. By law, Bud is scheduled for another date to vote. He becomes the focus of enormous lobbying, especially from the two leading candidates. Each party changes their position immediately to match any statement he gives so as to win him on their side, but Bud is too naive and dim-witted about politics to catch on to the game.

Molly is the perfect opposite, an extraordinarily smart and savvy preteen, who takes as much care of her thoughtless and forgetful father as he takes of her. She understands what's at stake, and does her best to make things right. It's not easy, with Bud's lack of interest in politics rivalled only by his ignorance of it.

The style is largely intelligent and thought-provoking, and not just for someone who cares about politics. The relationship between Bud and Molly, the tactics of the political parties, reactions of different lobbying groups, and other concepts blend well. There are also some attempts at comedy thrown in – the whole setting is quite absurd after all – but those are rather juvenile, and do the movie a disservice. Soundtrack is another area where a lack of effort easy to see, and the score occasionally stands out in a negative sense.

Madeline's acting as Molly is excellent, and the role is very interesting and versatile. The movie opens with Molly trying to make her father wake up so that he can take her to school and himself to work. After school, he forgets to show up, leaving Molly waiting for hours.

Molly doesn't appear to seriously suffer in this living arrangement. There is clearly love between the two, and she doesn't want social workers to take her away from him. During some of the worse moments, though, she entertains the thought of leaving him, and going away to live with her mother, which idea is a whole other can of worms.

Madeline's role is interesting and somewhat large. However she's not the main character, but a child with limited control over events. Even then the performance is one that is easy to recommend, and on top of that, it's a good movie by other merits.