Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis are two comedians who always tickle my funny bone, despite some of the not-so-great movies they have appeared in. But have no fear, “The Campaign” plays out pretty well as a comedy released during an election year.

Even if you aren’t an infected political junkie, the satirical comparisons to how ridiculous a great deal of the tactics involved in the election process are, are highlighted over and over again when Ferrell attacks Galifianakis and vice-versa.

Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow are cast as two billionaire brothers with the last name of Motch, which is a very lightly-veiled play on the billionaire Koch brothers working behind the Republican scenes today.

To assist in the billionaire’s nefarious schemes, Dylan McDermott plays a win-at-any-cost, uber-manipulative, slick-willy campaign manager sent in to turn Galifianakis from a weirdo to a crowd-pleaser.

There is no political leaning bias, as Democrats and Republicans are painted into being do-whatever-you-can-to-win, money-runs-everything, treat-people like-sheep parties controlling politics. So really, it isn’t terribly inaccurate.

Now for the downsides.

Some jokes fail, not terribly, but they hardly elicit more than a nasally “hmph.” Though both stars are well-equipped to keep the lulls in quality comedy from dragging the movie down, there is nothing spectacular to make up for those poor bits.

Ferrell and Galifianakis play characters they have already played before, with Galifianakis going a little further with a character even more effeminate than any he has past had.

But only so much can be done with character sketches that have already been done over and over again by the actors, and the story cannot even hold a candle to how awful the politics in the real world play out while campaigning, so nothing groundbreaking occurs. Frankly, I cannot see what could have been written to outdo even just the antics of those who campaigned and are still going for president this year.

The story is very predictable, even for a comedy. Not that it needed to be anything dramatic, but if you watch the first 15 minutes of the movie, most anyone could go ahead and predict the outcome and story arcs for the remainder of the movie.

Now the big question: Do you need to go see the movie in the theater?

The answer: No, you really don’t. “The Campaign” is funny, but not that funny. When it comes out on DVD, it will have gag reels and extended or cut scenes that will make the whole viewing experience much more entertaining than just seeing the movie in the theater. Still, it is worth a watch at some point.