Kevin Costner and Madeline Carroll in "Swing Vote". Photos courtesy of Disney Pictures

Since 1939, scores of idealistic directors have been trying to make another "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," the classic about American politics and fighting for lost causes. Perhaps the best effort was "Dave," a sadly overlooked film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver. Now another Kevin gives it a try. A big advantage is that it is hard to think of a popular American actor who comes closer to Jimmy Stewart than Kevin Costner.

"Swing Vote," opening this week, is a heartfelt comedy that runs with this premise: A single ordinary citizen will determine the next President of the United States. The excellent cast includes two well-known Hamptons actors, Kelsey Grammer and Nathan Lane.

Nathan Lane

Bud Johnson (Costner) is an apathetic, beer-slinging, lovable loser who is coasting through a life that has nearly passed him by. The one bright spot is his precocious, overachieving 12-year-old daughter, Molly (Madeline Carroll), who takes care of both of them. One day, however, she accidentally sets off a chain of events which culminates in the election coming down to one vote - her dad's. Suddenly, good ole' Bud has the power to change the world.

Grammer plays the Republican incumbent President Andrew Boone, and Lane is Art Crumb, the campaign manager for Democratic hopeful Donald Greenleaf, played by Dennis Hopper - and Crumb has lost the last seven elections he has managed candidates in. Boone's slick campaign manager is played by Stanley Tucci. Paula Patton, playing a TV reporter, becomes the love interest, and her boss at the station in New Mexico is George Lopez. (With Lopez and Costner such golf nuts, one wonders how many times they snuck off the set to play a round).

The Oscar-winning Costner did not direct - that chore fell to Joshua Michael Stern - but he and his partner in Treehouse Films, Jim Wilson, did produce "Swing Vote." Jason Richman began the script, then he hooked up with Stern and they completed it together. The idea they ran with is a comedic look at the U.S. political process as seen through the eyes of a small-town girl and her don't-care dad.

Kelsey Grammer

"We felt it was important to write something that had some meaning beyond just the entertainment factor of the comedy," said Stern. "Our goal was to write a movie about a father and a daughter. The political craziness and chaos was almost a secondary story."

Sometimes life is especially good. Their script caught the attention of Costner, who saw elements of "Bull Durham" and "Tin Cup" in it. He showed it to Wilson, with whom he has been producing pictures since "Dancing With Wolves."

"The first few pages absolutely grabbed me because it wasn't about politics at all," Wilson recalled. "It was about a single father raising a 12-year-old daughter and their relationship. And the dialogue, the banter between these two, is great."

"It's very much a 'Paper Moon' story," said Stern, referring to the Peter Bogdanovich film with Ryan O'Neal that introduced his daughter, Tatum. "We follow the relationship between a father and daughter and how they deal with the chaos that surrounds them."

Clearly, the very strange 2000 election inspired the idea for this script. "We thought that if an entire election could come down to a district in Florida - some 500 votes - and a gubernatorial race in Oregon could come down to 30 votes, we could create a believable election that came down to one vote," said Stern. "If there's a message to this film beyond the comedy and the relationships it's that every vote counts."

Dennis Hopper

Aside from the script, the film is most likely to work if the central character grabs the audience. For Costner, this is an especially meaty role.

"Bud is a classic American character," the actor-producer said. "He's kind of a ne'er-do-well - a likable rascal but flawed. He's also a careless human being in the sense that he's drifted in his life, moves from job to job, was married at one point, and now has a fifth-grader he's raising who kind of runs the house."

As producer, he had some input in casting. It's just coincidence that Grammer looks like a younger version of Fred Thompson. "I had this really strong feeling about Kelsey - he has a presidential air about him and he's such a good actor," Costner said.

For Stern, the director, the real surprise was Dennis Hopper, who more people think about from "Easy Rider" or "Hoosiers" than being in the White House. "Casting him as the Democratic contender was amazing," Stern said. "He looks so distinguished, but he mixes it up a bit. He's unexpected and I think that's always fun for an audience. It's fun to see people you've liked in the past up there doing something new."

Hopper and Nathan Lane are something like Abbott and Costello, but Lane said, "I don't see it as such a comedic role. It has its moments of humor but, essentially, I don't think of it as a funny role even though they seemed to be laughing when we were doing scenes. We were playing them serious." (Someone should have sent Nathan the memo!).

George Lopez

What should add to the fun for audiences – yes indeed, in addition to the oh-so-serious real presidential campaign that seems to have been underway for two years - are the smaller supporting roles and the cameo appearances. Judge Reinhold plays one of Bud's buddies and Mare Winningham is Molly's estranged mother. Playing themselves are Richard Petty, Willie Nelson, and TV's Mary Hart along with newsfolk Larry King, Chris Matthews, Bill Maher, Arianna Huffington, Campbell Brown, Tucker Carlson, and the irrepressible James Carville.

According to Robin Jonas, one of the executive producers, "Every time we sent the script to one of these folks, they fell in love with it. The most common reaction was that it was very Capra-esque, sort of a reverse 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,' which is delightful to hear."

Let's hope when it comes to the audience, their votes swing in favor of "Swing Vote." A political comedy is exactly what we need right now.