Grassroots is a 2012 American comedy film on DVD, directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, based on the book Zioncheck for President

Based on a true story Grassroots follows the story of Grant, an eccentric, short-tempered, unemployed music critic with a tendency to wear polar bear suits who decides to run for office in Seattle. Passionate but tactless, Grant coaxes his recently fired journalist friend Phil, to be his political adviser. With Grant's zeal and Phil's political savvy they attract a ragtag group of volunteers. Together they wage an exhilarating, hilarious grassroots campaign that brings this oddball dynamic duo to the very brink of victory.

Grassroots Film Review:
by Philip French, The Guardian UK

Stephen Gyllenhaal, father of the actors Maggie and Jake and best known for his television work, has made a fine job of directing this refreshing real-life political story of two eccentric journalists from the alternative press, the investigative reporter Phil Campbell (Jason Biggs) and the rock music writer Grant Cogswell (Joel David Moore) who find themselves at a loose end and go into local politics.

The year is 2001, and without any previous experience the quietly ironic Phil becomes the wild Grant's campaign manager to challenge the complacent professional politicians of Seattle with a single-issue policy of improving the city's neglected public transport system, most significantly the under-developed monorail net.

They are an attractive if at times infuriating pair, and their political education is handled with wit and insight, especially their dealings with their chief opponent, the town's only major black politician Richard McIver (Cedric the Entertainer), and the result resembles the 1972 Robert Redford movie The Candidate had it been directed by Frank Capra. Their reaction mid-campaign to 9/11 is pure Capra.