Film Review: "The Front Runner" (2018).

"Gary Hart was going to be President. Instead he changed American Politics forever." This is The Front Runner. This political drama film directed by Jason Reitman, written by Reitman and Jay Carson, and based on the 2014 book All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid by Matt Bai. The film centres on Gary Hart, a former senator of Colorado, who becomes the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1987. Hart's intelligence, charisma and idealism makes him popular with young voters, leaving him with a seemingly clear path to the White House. All that comes crashing down when allegations of an extramarital affair surface in the media, forcing the candidate to address a scandal that threatens to derail his campaign and personal life.

In 2003, Bai, a political columnist, became interested in American Senator Gary Hart after writing a profile of him for The New York Times. In 2014, Bai published the book, All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid. Bai would later go on to pen the script for the film with Reitman and former Hillary Clinton press secretary, Jay Carson. In June 2017, it was reported that Hugh Jackman would portray Gary Hart. By late September, Vera Farmiga, J. K. Simmons, Alfred Molina, Kaitlyn Dever, and Sara Paxton rounded out the films' cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in early November. Filming took place in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia. The real-life Donna Rice, now using Donna Rice Hughes as her married name, the woman with whom Hart was alleged to have had an affair, was given a private screening of the film a few months before its release. To this day, Hart and Rice Hughes deny they had an affair. In interviews about the film, Rice Hughes has credited Paxton with an authentic portrayal of her 29-year-old self, has said she appreciates how Reitman, treated her character with compassion and dignity.

The film stars Jackman, Farmiga, Simmons, Molina, Dever, and Paxton. The performances are superb, particularly Jackman as Hart. Jackman is excellent as the charming but shallow Hart. The movie is at its best when examining the complex character of Hart.

Reitman's The Front Runner tries to recreate those muddied times for 1980s America, but leaden film that's held together only by Jackman's strong performance as Gary Hart. The greatest virtue of the filmmakers' straightforward approach is that it avoids the obvious pitfall of pretentiousness. Reitman is not the most stylistically assured of filmmakers, but his ability with actors is obvious. For this project, that is enough to turn the flat conventions of the docudrama into something resembling life. A quality cast, polished writing and the atmospheric evocation of 1980s American political landscape sleaze make for a powerful depiction of Hart's fall from grace. If you're familiar with the scandal in question, this does an excellent job in unravelling what it was actually all about. It's surprisingly wise about the complexities of the human heart.

Simon says The Front Runner receives:

Also, see my review for Tully.