Barry Levinson’s “Wag the Dog” was one of the great political satires and his teaming with Robin Williams in “Good Morning, Vietnam” was brilliant – so what’s with their latest collaboration?

Acerbic Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams) is one of America’s top late-night comedians – like Jon Stewart/Bill Maher/Jay Leno/David Letterman - who runs for President as a stunt - until grassroots buzz gets behind him, much to the surprise of his writer (Lewis Black) and manager (Christopher Walken), who serves as the film’s narrator. Sick of dishonesty and corruption, Dobbs tells it like it is: “Politicians are like diapers. They should be changed often – for the same reason.” And he’s is elected. Or so he thinks.

What he – and the public – don’t realize is that a glitch in the new, computerized voting machines made by the Delacroy Corporation has miscounted. The only person aware of this deceptive error is a conscience-stricken programmer, Eleanor Green (Laura Linney), who tries to alert Delacroy legal counsel (Jeff Goldblum) but is drugged and fired for her watchdog effort. Determined to tell Dobbs the truth, she makes her way into his inner circle, stealing his heart en-route.

Writer/director Levinson can’t decide whether it’s wacky, light-hearted fun - in which the President-elect plays paintball on Thanksgiving - or a pseudo-thriller about voting fraud and corporate greed. So he tries to combine both into a ‘dramedy,’ and the menacing subplot drags the comedy down. On the other hand, Robin Williams’ improvisational riffs are hilarious – and, in the more subtle scenes, he’s genuinely credible. Chris Matthews, Faith Daniels, Cathleen Crier, James Carville with SNL’s Tina Fey and Amy Poehler add authenticity.

On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, Man of the Year is a satiric 7 that’s timely and thought-provoking.