THE FRONT RUNNER : Official Reviews (SPOILERS )

[jo]

Another review which tries to put the story of the Hart run for the presidency into this generation's context.


www.monstersandcritics.com/movies/the-front-runner-movie-review-its-hart-is-in-the-right-place/

[jo]

An engrossing look at the character of Gary Hart and how he is depicted in the movie...relating past history's relevance to current times.

uproxx.com/movies/the-front-runner-review-jason-reitman-gary-hart/2/

[jo]

Negative for reasons that the intention of the film is to keep things unmoored ( no definitive conclusions) -- again, is this what the critic wants to see … or is this what director Reitman wants to portray? But it is a serious look and notes how Hugh as Hart transitions as his presidency hopes falter.


battleshippretension.com/the-front-runner-stand-for-something-by-scott-nye/

[jo]

Film reviews by young minds ( this time, the NYU student paper) are always well-thought out. This is no exception --


nyunews.com/2018/11/05/jason-reitman-the-front-runner-hugh-jackman-plays-gary-hart-in-retelling-of-infamous-political-scandal-hugh-jackman-plays-gary-hart-in-retelling-of-infamous-political-scandal/?fbclid=IwAR2Og9AGcyGVSijtKsGUO8xdYP3S5RoGKFK9p8fhvMzXN6YRrmpuFWBHpX4

[jo]

Impressed with Hugh … but not with the movie --

www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/hugh-jackman/277479/the-front-runner-review-hugh-jackman

[jo]

The Associated Press critic appreciates Reitman's intention and execution of the subject.

3.5 of 4 stars!


apnews.com/f0a93f934db74b98b9c02eaaa47bb094

The AP review is usually one of a few that are circulated to other media outlets all over the country.

[jo]

Rex Reed loves The Front Runner -- gives it a 4 of 4 stars rating!!

Rex didn't like The Greatest Showman and Logan...but was a fan of The Boy from Oz


Back to THE FRONT RUNNER --


observer.com/2018/11/hugh-jackman-front-runner-review-rex-reed/

Review
In ‘The Front Runner,’ Perfectly Hair-Sprayed Hugh Jackman Redeems a Disgraced Gary Hart
By Rex Reed • 11/09/18 5:10pm

Hugh Jackman in The Front Runner. Sony Pictures


Hugh Jackman can do anything. From dancing in the shoes of Fred Astaire to polishing off banquets of high-voltage drama in the style of Robert Altman, he triumphs where others usually fail. Now, in The Front Runner, playing disgraced 1988 Democratic presidential “shoo-in” Gary Hart, he chronicles the downfall of a potentially great political leader, orchestrated by irresponsible journalists and morally indignant voters, because of an extramarital affair. Sound familiar? Brilliantly directed by Jason Reitman, from an intelligent, carefully researched and fast moving screenplay by Reitman, Jay Carson and Matt Bai (based on Bai’s marvelous book All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid), this enthralling film is a mirror to the shifting relationship between the media and politics, and the events that changed the last 30 years in American history.


After the two-term presidency of Republican Ronald Reagan, when Democrats were desperate to shift the focus from conservatism to liberalism and regain control of Congress, Colorado senator Gary Hart seemed to be the perfect candidate for leadership. He was smart, charming, handsome, an eloquent public speaker and a righteous powerhouse in the polls. He also symbolized integrity and a commitment to the U. S. Constitution, with experience as a lawyer, former campaign manager, father and husband to a dream of a future First Lady (Vera Farmiga as his wife Lee). How could he lose? The movie concentrates on the last three chaotic weeks of the Hart campaign when the charisma stained and the temple crumbled.


THE FRONT RUNNER ★★★★
(4/4 stars)
Directed by: Jason Reitman
Written by: Matt Bai, Jay Carson, Jason Reitman
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons
Running time: 113 mins.


Using the old Robert Altman technique of overlapping conversations, multilayered sound effects and crackerjack pacing, Reitman plunges the viewer into the fever of an overheated election with breakneck speed to give us a feeling of public hysteria and smoky backroom bustle. In Hugh Jackman’s towering performance, we get every aspect of Gary Hart’s personality, from his reluctance to share his private life with the press to his sometimes offensive arrogance. You also get a candid rundown of the superficial points that catapult a candidate to the White House, including endless state fair barbecues, warnings about no flirtations with blonde fund raisers and just the right hairspray on a windy day. From the Iowa caucus to the Democratic National Convention, no detail is eliminated.


Then, suddenly as a slamming door, there was a shift in the weather when a pair of ambitious reporters from the Miami Herald, acting on an anonymous tip that Senator Hart was having an affair and under the pretense of press responsibility to hold presidential candidates responsible for their private lives, decided to make names for themselves by destroying his reputation for ethics and fair play. Under the guise of journalistic integrity, they stalked him, tailed him, hid in the bushes outside his house in Georgetown to photograph the lighted windows in his bedroom, then, without checking their facts, published a scurrilous expose that made national headlines, ruined a marriage and derailed an election.

In the resulting scandal, a man with high ideals who considered himself invincible was brought down by a single mistake. I felt defeat creeping into my bones with every discouraging blow and in the end, I could only think about how so many worthy presidential candidates have been headed off at the pass while so many thugs have sodomized public decency in elected public offices. No names necessary. You know who they are.


This is a responsible, educated, sophisticated and often deeply witty film about politics and journalistic responsibility in the tradition of All the President’s Men, The Post and The Ides of March. It is also another prime example of Hugh Jackman’s inexhaustible versatility that Gary Hart does not come off as a pariah. He’s the remarkable centrifugal force that propels the movie toward the moral high ground, but it is also chock full of memorable contributions from J. K. Simmons as Hart’s campaign manager, Vera Farmiga as his loving but long-suffering wife Lee, Mamoudou Athie as an idealistic young journalist from The Washington Post who gets a sober lesson in the ugly side of journalism, and a touching turn by Sara Paxton as Donna Rice, the girl caught in the middle of the muddle like a deer in the headlights.
You go away from The Front Runner with a lot of knowledge about the stupid way Americans build, support, deify, and then discard their heroes, but best of all, the movie reminds us again of the imperative privilege and responsibility of casting the right votes. If we make sex a more important criterion in the election of the people who govern our lives than the kind of human decency that comes from the heart, then we might get just the kind of rotten government we deserve.

[jo]

Richard Roeper of CHICAGO SUN TIMES is impressed with THE FRONT RUNNER --

chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment/front-runner-review-movie-gary-hart-hugh-jackman-richard-roeper/

11/16/2018, 06:00am
‘The Front Runner’: Crash of Gary Hart’s campaign, told with satire and sympathy


Sen. Gary Hart (Hugh Jackman) is in the center of a media storm in "The Front Runner." | Columbia Pictures


ByRichard Roeper @richarderoeper | email



“Have you ever worked in politics before?”
“No.”

“Why do you want to work for Gary?”
“I like his positions.” – Exchange between Gary Hart’s campaign manager and Hart’s alleged mistress Donna Rice in “The Frontrunner.”


It’s a different time.


We keep hearing that in “The Front Runner.” The journalists covering the 1988 presidential race and the campaign operatives dealing with scandalous rumors keep saying: “It’s a different time.”




In Jason Reitman’s whip-smart and funny and poignant look back at a scandal that forever changed the political landscape, famed Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee (Alfred Molina) initially dismisses talk of covering the stories of womanizing by Gary Hart, the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Bradlee tells a story about Lyndon Baines Johnson meeting privately with White House reporters shortly after becoming president.

“You’re going to see a lot of women coming and going,” said Johnson, according to Bradlee. “I expect you to show me the same discretion you showed Jack [Kennedy].”

But it’s a different time, comes the argument from some of Bradlee’s lieutenants. The days of the press ignoring the private indiscretions of the nation’s leaders were screeching to a halt.

Favoring a docudrama style, director/co-writer Reitman nails all the period-piece details, from the newsgathering technology of the time to the dominance of the print media to the chain-smoking to the wardrobe — but “The Front Runner” also has the distinct flavor of a political satire, somewhere between Robert Altman’s HBO series “Tanner ‘88” and “Veep.”
Sure, at times this is deadly serious stuff. But it also has elements of pure farce, as two reporters from the Miami Herald stake out Hart’s townhouse and mark the comings and goings of a young female guest — without realizing there was also a back entrance, so the assumptions they were making were just that. Assumptions. Nevertheless, they ran with a story implying Hart was having an affair, and lives were changed.



Hugh Jackman, sporting a somewhat distracting brown hairpiece and looking vaguely Kennedy-esque, does a solid job of capturing Hart’s impressive grasp of the issues and his undeniable, camera-friendly charisma — but also his arrogance and his unbounding ego. (Hart once said only 50 percent of him wanted to be president, but “the 50 percent that wants to be president is better than 100 percent of the others.”)




Hart is the centerpiece of the story, but “The Front Runner” is often more fascinating when the candidate is offscreen and we’re following the journalists covering him and the campaign staffers trying to save him.
Reitman mainstay J.K. Simmons is perfectly cast as Hart’s campaign manager Bill Dixon, a gruff and cynical veteran of the political wars prone to proclaiming, “I don’t give a f—,” although in fact he believes Hart is a once-in-a-generation candidate who can make a difference.

Under Dixon’s steady guidance, the Hart campaign is roaring through the country, with the candidate nailing it at every stop, from televised policy debates to stunts like grilling burgers in a diner or throwing an ax at a target (and scoring a near bullseye).

Hart seems certain to become the Democratic nominee, and he has a legitimate chance of defeating then Vice-President George H.W. Bush, who was hardly captivating the nation with his dynamic presence.

But then a reporter at the Miami Herald gets a phone call from a woman claiming her friend is having an affair with Hart. Meanwhile, a New York Times reporter (Mamoudou Athie, doing excellent work) asks Hart about previous separations from his wife Lee (played by Vera Farmiga) and the current state of his marriage.

Hart explodes and says, “Follow me around, I don’t care. If anybody wants to put a tail on me, go ahead. They’d be very bored.”


Whoops.



In short order, the Miami Herald runs its damaging albeit somewhat wobbly scoop intimating an affair between Hart and the visitor to his townhouse, and the dam breaks loose, with TV trucks camped outside Hart’s home in Colorado, and the candidate facing a media pack that no longer cares about his platform.

Soon, Johnny Carson is cracking jokes about Hart partying on a yacht called “Monkey Business,” of all things, and saying there was so much activity on the boat, “the whales were watching THEM.”

As someone who spent a little time in a big-city newsroom right around the time period of this film, first answering the phones and then working as news reporter and columnist, I can vouch for the newsroom scenes at the Miami Herald and the Washington Post. (I loved Kevin Pollak as the Herald’s gruff editor. He doesn’t have a bottomless reservoir of Jack Kennedy anecdotes a la Ben Bradlee, but he knows how to run a news operation.)

The film is sympathetic to Donna Rice (Sara Paxton), who has always maintained she didn’t have an affair with Hart. In a scene that lasts maybe a minute, “The Front Runner” depicts Rice experiencing a shocking burst of transition from complete anonymity to instant and nationwide notoriety.

“The Front Runner” doesn’t hit us over the head with parallels to today’s political and media world. It doesn’t have to.
‘The Front Runner’



★★★1⁄2



Columbia Pictures presents a film directed by Jason Reitman and written by Reitman, Matt Bai and Jay Carson, based on Bai’s book “All the Truth Is Out.” Rated R (for language including some sexual references). Running time: 113 minutes. Opens Friday at local theaters.

Richard Roeper
Follow me on Twitter @richarderoeper Email: [e-mail]

[jo]

New reviews coming in, as the movie opens in the UK on January 11.


www.radiotimes.com/news/film/2019-01-07/the-front-runner-review-a-fly-on-the-wall-approach-to-political-scandal/

[jo]

EMPIRE reviews THE FRONT RUNNER and gives it a 4 of 5 stars rating!

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The Front Runner Review
Dan Jolin
7 Jan 2019 12:34
Last updated: 7 Jan 2019 12:42
Release date
11 Jan 2019
Movie
The Front Runner



US Senator Gary Hart (Hugh Jackman) enters the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1988 with an overwhelming lead. Then it’s discovered he’s having an extramarital affair and his campaign swiftly goes off the rails.

★★★★ of
★★★★★

As Harold Wilson once said, a week is a long time in politics. It took slightly longer than that to transform Senator Gary Hart from the next US President to a scandal-ridden campaign drop-out, but the 180 in his fortunes was still remarkably hard, sharp and fast. And it was a turning point for American politics — certainly the way politicians were scrutinised by the media. There’s an irony in the way that Hart, so seemingly progressive, couldn’t adapt to a world where politicians became publicly accountable for personal indiscretions. As Hart says in the form of Hugh Jackman, “It’s gossip. It’ll blow over.” It didn’t. It blew up, right in his handsome face.

It’s a meaty chunk of material for Jason Reitman to gnaw on, as not only director but co-writer with Jay Carson and Matt Bai, on whose 2014 book, All The Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid, the film is based. So while Jackman is its redwood-sturdy centre, this is an ensemble piece. Reitman’s camera roves around the nerve centre of the Hart campaign, run by J.K. Simmons as Bill Dixon, and populated by keen interns dubbed the ‘Atari Democrats’. It also glides around the newspaper offices of The Miami Herald, whose journalists uncover the infidelity, and The Washington Post, where staff debate going down the “tabloid” route taken by the Herald. Which means we spend less time than you might expect in the Hart household, with Jackman, Vera Farmiga in the obligatory suffering-wife role, and Kaitlyn Dever as his daughter, Andrea.


Jackman dishes up one of his finest performances yet.

While admirably trying to balance the personal and the public/political, Reitman does tilt towards the latter, leaving not only Farmiga and Dever side-lined, but Sara Paxton as Hart’s girlfriend Donna Rice, too. “I’m not some stupid bimbo,” she says — and she wasn’t — but we don’t see enough of her for the story to fully back that up.
But there is a loose, rambling, Altmanesque appeal to Reitman’s approach, and it does provide a fascinating dip into a pivotal event with both flair and wit, such as the Team Hart guys who can’t remember what his three (or is it four?) ‘E’s should stand for. One of them, tellingly, is Ethics.

At the heart of this kinetic ensemble is Jackman, dishing up one of his finest performances yet as the charismatic politician whose worst opponent is his own libido. The rightness or wrongness of his actions, and of his treatment by the press, is left for us to decide. By embracing all of Hart’s ambiguities — his charm, his idealism, his passion, his stubbornness, his prickliness, his selfishness and his weakness — Jackman admirably doesn’t make it any easier for us.

A sharp-witted and wide-reaching account of a bright political hope’s fall from grace, with an impressive ensemble cast and a great performance from Jackman.

[jo]

Other new reviews --

screengoblin.com/2019/01/07/the-front-runner/

[jo]

www.cinechat.co.uk/the-front-runner/

The Front Runner
Review By Lee Boardman · Published 7th January 2019

4 of 5 stars

I don’t really follow, or know very much about American politics. Trying to cope with whatever Brexit nonsense is happening here in the UK on a daily basis is more than enough for me, so aside from face palming at whatever rubbish Donald Trump is currently spewing on Twitter, I’m fairly oblivious to it all. Back in 1988, I would have more likely been playing Super Mario World, than taking interest in former Colorado senator Gary Hart, who became the front runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. So why then would I be interested in watching a movie about him and the scandal he became involved in so close to achieving his dream of presidency? Well, when the movie stars versatile man of the moment Hugh Jackman as Gary Hart, along with another two of my favourite actors (Vera Farmiga and J.K. Simmons), then I’m more than happy to give it a shot!

The movie opens with Hart currently riding high, with only three weeks to go until the nomination. He’s a very charismatic man, intelligent, and clearly striking a chord with the voters. His path to the White House seems clear and certain. But, as the opening on-screen titles remind us, a lot can happen in three weeks…

Those three weeks, for the most part, run pretty smoothly, giving us a chance to get to know Hart and the vast number of supporting characters as the campaign progresses through its final stages. J.K. Simmons is campaign manager Bill Dixon, brilliant and often hilarious in every scene he’s in. Vera Farmiga plays Harts wife Lee, slightly underused in the role of supportive wife placed in a difficult position. Elsewhere, there are plenty of strong supporting characters, both throughout the campaign team and within the news teams that are tasked with following Hart around the country. One of those reporters eventually gets wind of a potential story, although he initially doesn’t believe the young nervous girl phoning his office one night, telling him about her friend who is due to go and meet with Hart at the weekend. A last minute change in Harts schedule for the weekend leads the reporter to suspect there may be some truth to the phone call and he follows up on the lead, staking out Harts townhouse in a bid to get some dirt on him.


When the dirt does start to come out, Hart attempts to brush it aside. We’ve already seen what a private man he is, baffled as to why anyone would want to see him posing for photos with his family in People magazine. He believes that his policies and the politician that he is are all that matters, and that the public aren’t interested in his private life at all, so all of this will just blow over. His staff rally round to try and contain the story and work out what to do with the woman involved in the scandal, while Harts wife and daughter deal with the fallout back home. All the while, the reporters and TV are having a field day. Every part of the story is interesting, and the characters involved are all superb. What always helps a movie like this though is when it is based on true events and what helps it even more is the fantastic cast, who all do a brilliant job at making this a very enjoyable movie.

[jo]

From Ireland -- another 4 of 5 stars rating!

www.movies.ie/the-front-runner/

The Front Runner
January 8, 2019
4.0
Overall Score

The Front Runner (USA / 15A / 113 mins)

In short: Scandalously good

Directed by Jason Reitman. Starring Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons, Alfred Molina, Sara Paxton.

The Plot: It’s 1988 and the US Presidential campaign is in full swing. Kansas-born and Colorado-based Democratic senator Gary Hart (Hugh Jackman) is the youngest candidate at 46. He’s a promising, idealistic family man supported by his wife Lee (Vera Farmiga) and their now adult children. As the front runner, a lot is expected of him. His campaign manager Bill (J.K. Simmons) finds that some serious damage control is required when journalists from the Miami Herald follow Gary’s movements to a townhouse in Washington D.C. They spot former model Donna (Sara Paxton) coming in and out and publish their story that Gary is having an illicit affair. The face of politics has changed, much to Gary’s surprise. A politician’s private life is now a very public affair…

The Verdict: The multi-talented Hugh Jackman may have hung up his adamantium claws, but he continues to seek out challenging roles that probe the innate decency that he channels into his characters. That’s something that director Jason Reitman latched on to when casting the lead role of former Presidential candidate Gary Hart in The Front Runner. It’s based on the book All The Truth Is Out by Matt Bai, who co-writes the screenplay here with Reitman and Jay Carson. If you’re expecting a salacious expose of the secret shenanigans behind those tightly-closed doors in Washington then you’ve tuned in to the wrong channel. The Front Runner is a more sombre affair (literally) in that it charts the point at which private lives can become of public interest in American politics.

Reitman takes a wide-ranging approach to Gary Hart’s fall from grace due to this affair that rocked his marriage and even more so his campaign. He views it from different angles: from Hart’s family; to the staffers on his team; to muck-raking journalists in the Miami Herald; to even the revered Washington Post, where the legendary Ben Bradlee (Alfred Molina) has to make a decision to get involved or watch other publications hog the limelight. It’s telling that in one particular scene Bradlee notes a change in the times, when the Washington Post previously turned a blind eye to the indiscretions of former Presidents. It’s a prescient message for our current troubled times, when we have a former reality TV star in the Oval Office – and he’s hardly an ideal candidate himself.

There’s a saying that a week is a long time in politics. The Front Runner charts three very long weeks in Hart’s life, as his campaign comes apart at the seams due to his inability to understand that change in the times. Reitman isn’t so much interested in the scandal but more in how Hart deals with it on a personal level. When he’s confronted by Lee, he doesn’t need to say much. It’s all in Jackman’s eyes, a quiet admission of guilt and shame. There’s a sense that Reitman has too much respect for Hart to drag him through the mud repeatedly. This is as it should be – Hart could have been a contender, he could have had class. Instead, he was subject to his own human frailty and duly fell on the sword that the hungry media propped up for him. Reitman also analyses the effect on Donna, showing that even a woman previously used to being looked at could be frightened by intense media attention.

Jackman is superb here, keeping Hart grounded but gradually coming to the realisation that the affair is overshadowing the potentially good work he could do as President. It’s a tricky role to play, given the potential to pass quick judgment on Hart. Jackman portrays him as a flawed man with high ideals, thereby creating a certain level of sympathy for Hart. He’s well-supported by Farmiga and Simmons, who add their own perspectives on Hart’s rapid descent. Reitman keeps his direction low-key, focusing more on character and wringing the most out of those emotionally-charged scenes when Hart has to confront the truth of his behaviour. There’s much to admire here, but what impresses the most is Reitman’s restraint and use of discretion in telling Hart’s story. The Front Runner is a scandalously good period drama which is even more relevant now.

Rating: 4 / 5

Review by Gareth O’Connor

[hughmanity]

This recent spate of more positive reviews from the UK has enabled a "fresh" rating on RT as of this writing.  Just barely at 60%  (and not top critics), but still nicer than seeing the green "splat". 

[jo]

Thanks for the news -- I have been hoping for that!!

It seemed likely because the initial critical reaction in the UK when it was shown at the British Film Festival seemed quite positive. Hope it stays like that as the movie moves around Europe.

I had wondered if the subject was too close for comfort with American critics given that it was a midterm elections release... or they did not simply like Reitman's directorial technique in presenting the story and the issues?

Jo

[jo]

But what is satisfying is that METACRITIC ( the more rigid and more respected critic scoring methodology) gives it, early on, an approval score of 61.

www.metacritic.com/movie/the-front-runner/critic-reviews


Compare with Metacritic's ratings of other HJ movies --

Prisoners - 74
The Prestige - 66
Les Miserables - 63
The Fountain - 51
The Greatest Showman - 48

Jo

[jo]

Another review from Ireland --

still positive at 6 of 10.


www.irishnews.com/arts/2019/01/09/news/film-review-the-front-runner-doesn-t-quite-do-fascinating-tale-of-gary-hart-justice-1522917/

Film review: The Front Runner doesn't quite do fascinating tale of Gary Hart justice

Senator Gary Hart, played with tub-thumping conviction by Hugh Jackman in The Front Runner

Damon Smith
09 January, 2019 01:00

Hugh Jackman as Gary Hart in The Front Runner

POLITICS and sleaze have become depressingly frequent bedfellows, ushering us into an era where the press and social media scrutinise the moral fibre of public servants.

Director Jason Reitman's sharp-suited drama The Front Runner unfolds several years before the Monica Lewinsky's scandal.
Co-written by Matt Bai and Jay Carlson, it focuses on three tumultuous weeks in the 1980s, when political journalism abruptly shifted focus from manifestos to the personal lives of one candidate.


Senator Gary Hart from Colorado, portrayed with tub-thumping conviction by Hugh Jackman, is the charismatic figure caught in the eye of a raging media storm, who refuses to answer questions about an extra-marital affair when he would rather concentrate on policy.

"I've been doing this for 20 years," rages Hart. "The public doesn't care about this."
He was wrong and his fall from grace is fascinating food for thought in a film that doesn't deliver the landslide victory it promises.

Four years after conceding the race for the Democratic presidential nomination to Walter Mondale, who subsequently failed to prize the keys to the White House from Ronald Reagan, Senator Gary Hart (Jackman) is widely regarded as the Democrat front runner to lead 1988 America.

The handsome politician from Kansas hits the election trail flanked by wife Lee (Vera Farmiga) and daughter Andrea (Kaitlyn Dever). Hart has a gift for headline-grabbing slogans – "The world changes when young people give a damn!" – and soundbites about Perestroika, aided by a crack campaign team under the direction of no-nonsense manager Bill Dixon (JK Simmons).

The politician has a healthy lead in polls until journalists from the Miami Herald doorstep Hart at his Washington DC townhouse, where he has been entertaining a woman called Donna Rice (Sara Paxton).


Hart's deputy campaign manager John B Emerson (Tommy Dewey), press secretary Kevin Sweeney (Chris Coy), policy aide Doug Wilson (Josh Brener), schedule coordinator Irene Kelly (Molly Ephraim) and aide-de-camp Billy Shore (Mark O'Brien) are embroiled in a race against time to salvage the team's hard work.
Hart reluctantly telephones his wife.
"What they're going to write... shouldn't ever be written. I can't seem to stop them..." he blathers.
"I feel so stupid," he adds pathetically.
"Good," tersely replies Lee. "You should."

The Front Runner is tethered to Jackman's performance and he compels us to see beyond the flaws of his statesman.

The script is underpowered and refuses to delve deeply into emotional meat of those three weeks, though. Like Hart's campaign, Reitman's film is a slickly orchestrated, entertaining circus that stumbles at the final hurdle.
THE FRONT RUNNER (15, 113 mins) Drama/Romance. Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga, JK Simmons, Tommy Dewey, Josh Brener, Mark O'Brien, Chris Coy, Molly Ephraim, Sara Paxton, Kaitlyn Dever. Director: Jason Reitman.


RATING: 6/10

Released: January 11 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)

[jo]

The movie earns another 4 of 5 rating, with another Irish media critic --

www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/the-front-runner-sex-lies-and-hugh-jackman-s-fabulous-hair-1.3751230

Wed, Jan 9, 2019 Dublin

The Front Runner: Sex, lies and Hugh Jackman’s fabulous hair
Review: Greatest Showman star plays scandal-hit presidential candidate Gary Hart
Tara Brady

**** of 5

The Front Runner: Hugh Jackman plays presidential hopeful Gary Hart
Film Title: The Front Runner
Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: Hugh Jackman, J. K. Simmons, Vera Farmiga, Alfred Molina, Mamoudou Athie
Genre: History
Running Time: 113 min


Composed of the cinematographer Eric Steelberg’s long, snaking takes and Altmanesque overlapping dialogue and soundtracks, The Front Runner parachutes the viewer into the cut and thrust of the 1984 race for the Democratic nomination for the US presidential election, just as Gary Hart is conceding to Walter Mondale.

Hart had enough charisma, smarts and fabulous hair that they’ve had to draft in Hugh Jackman, the Greatest Showman, to play the role. His time will surely come.


Fast-forward to 1987 and Hart, a US senator from Colorado, is the presumed front runner in the Democratic race. A furiously private fellow, he talks about economics and the environment and seems entirely oblivious to the creeping tabloidisation of US media and politics, even after he catches two Miami Herald journalists on a stake-out at his Washington town house. The details are juicy: Hart is entertaining a pretty blonde named Donna Rice (Sara Paxton), whom he met on a yacht named Monkey Business.


The historical details are impeccable but the events have been pointedly repurposed as a cautionary tale that leads all the way to Donald Trump. A script written by Reitman, the Clinton adviser Jay Carson and the journalist Matt Bai, whose book All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid serves as the source material, is a bit too enthralled with that thesis and perhaps with Hart himself.

If public figures were allowed private lives, it hints, Hart might have been president. So no Gulf War and none of the domino effects of that conflict.

In keeping with this notion, The Front Runner pitches good press – as personified by a young, idealistic, fictionalised journalist for the Washington Post (Mamoudou Athie) – and bad press; see the unflattering depiction of the Miami Herald employees.

Against this, Reitman’s thought-provoking film considers the appalling treatment of Donna Rice and the clever choral dialogue allows for alternative viewpoints, as does Jackman’s canny rendition of Hart. The Washington Post reporter Ann Devroy (Ari Graynor), for one, understandably explains that she can’t trust Hart if he uses his position in the way that he apparently has.

It’s nauseating, too, when her boss Ben Bradlee (Alfred Molina) wistfully recalls President Lyndon B Johnson telling reporters that women will be coming to his hotel room and that he expects the same degree of privacy accorded to President John F Kennedy.

The film shares intriguing intersections with All the President’s Men, The Post and The Candidate, the pacy chatter is never less than compelling, and there are lovely supporting turns from Vera Farmiga as Hart’s long-suffering wife and JK Simmons as his beleaguered campaign manager.

[jo]

A fair review. It's the first one I have seen since I saw the movie myself.

nomajesty.com/front-runner-review/

The Front Runner review
Feb 17, 2019
by Paul Klein
in Film

It’s no coincidence that films about previous political scandals are becoming popular, last season saw The Post, about the press finding out something about an unpopular president and using it to ruin their career. Now this season sees two films, one about a bullheaded Vice President with ideas above a fairly stupid President and The Front Runner about how sexual scandal ruined the presidential aspirations of one man. Is there something in the air? (haha, Trump, fart joke, we’re classy at No Majesty).

The Front Runner is an interesting proposition, following three weeks in the political world in which Gary Hart, Democratic senator for Colorado was poised to become the 1988 Presidential winner when his entire political career was derailed by an affair.

Jason Reitman had a string of great movies in the form Thank You for Smoking, Juno, Up In The Air and Young Adult, but then hit a slump with Labor Day and Men Women & Children, yet with the one-two punch of Tully and The Front Runner he’s found his groove again.

Reitman channels the late Robert Altman in style and wit with his roving camera, and in co-writing crafts a film that looks at all angles of the film. There is clear anger in Reitman on show that only thirty years previous a political career was derailed by scandal when now a man with many affairs, many wives and many offensive comments.

It’s an interesting choice to get Hugh Jackman for the lead role, having previously said goodbye to anti-hero badass Wolverine and then charmed audiences with problematic showman P.T. Barnum it’s an interesting proposition – one of Hollywood’s most charming men as the politician that had everyone placing their bets. The irony is that while Hart was almost Kennedy-esque in his good looks, and youth, he still fell back on old fashioned ideas – that politics was about policies and not about personal approachability.


Here the film hits its stride but also it’s problem. There’s no doubting the ability of Jackman to have us engage with people, he has charm to spare and while Vera Farmiga does well as his wife Lee, the real stand out is J.K. Simmons as his campaign runner Bill Dixon. There’s some laughs to be had in the film, not least when Simmons witheringly refers to himself as “a Bill, because I’m an adult, only kids are called Billy.” But the film sidelines a very important issue – the affair.
There’s a nobility in not going for easy answers, but it almost goes too political in not saying anything, even the budding friendship between campaign worker Irene (Molly Ephraim) and Hart’s mistress Donna Rice (Sara Paxton) feels a little undercooked with the question of abuse of power never fully being explored. Again one of the things that Reitman so clearly is fired up about is how affairs can derail or sully the reputation of democratic politicians – Bill Clinton’s presidency was nearly ended by his own scandal, and yet the current President has had numerous affairs, including a very public one with an adult film actress and yet nothing is being done.

There is however a central enigma to the film which is the question of why Hart refused to accept the way the world was going – it was a time when politics became tabloid and yet for a young, progressive potential President Hart could not get his hat on about talking about himself – the film raises the question, does he refuse to answer personal questions because of his secrets, or because he refuses to be a part of the new wave. Ultimately the film doesn’t have an answer, nor does it know what to do with the looming questions of the alleged affair.

What remains is a very well put together film, with a compelling central performance from Jackman and an utterly intriguing problem at it’s core – sadly, like life, there aren’t any answers that can be extracted.

[jo]

There must have been a new screening of THE FRONT RUNNER, given some mentions in social media these days.

One published a new review--

therealmrpositive.com/2020/11/05/the-front-runner-2018/

The Front Runner (2018)
Any good democracy or republic, or any institution in servitude to the public, is only as good as a diligent press, to keep these bodies into account. But over the years, many in the public feel that the free media may have overstepped its mark, and is publishing more indecent and unnecessarily evasive details, abusing their rights for a quick profit. In 2018, a film explored this murky issue by framing it against the true-life story of how a politician’s private affairs came crashing down in The Front Runner.


If it wasn’t for the retro computer, this could have been set today!
Democratic nominee Gary Hart looks poised to take the party’s nomination and become a challenger to the seemingly insurmountable tide of the Reagan Revolution in the upcoming 1988 election. One night would change all that when reporters catch wind that the happily married Hart may just be having an affair. Whether to pursue this lead or respect Hart’s privacy causes some controversy as this is an issue that could affect the election and the relationship of the press for many years to come. The two sides privately and publicly butt heads, as the story puts pressure on the campaign. For the potential leader of the free world, what exactly is fair game for public knowledge?


The film represents both sides of the argument well, especially in the moments when the argument is public.
I don’t think it is intentional how much this film reminds me of the critically acclaimed T.V. series Tanner ‘88 (and the similar in scope the 90s campaign satire Primary Colors). The focus on the backroom politicising and hyper-focused efficiency of the Campaign machine is a thrill to watch. We also get the same treatment on the other side in the offices of the newspapers, although a lot of films have before and since shown us similar scenes.


Back room discussions are ample in The Front Runner.
Australian Hugh Jackman bears a resemblance of 80s era Hart, capturing his charisma, intelligence and reminding modern audiences why he was the front runner from the get-go. Countered with Vera Farmiga as his wife Lee Hart. The onscreen talent does not stop here, with the likes J.K. Simmons is a blast as the campaign manager. Alfred Molina adds a dramatic flair as the editor of The Post, Ben Bradlee. Even the likes of Mike Judge showing up. Though the film takes some with some fictional perspectives, most of the characters are the ones that were involved in the fateful event that challenged the first amendment.


Hugh Jackman and Vera Farmiga as Hart and Lee Hart respectively.
The Front Runner combines subtle humour, good acting and heavy issues to deliver this portrait of a promising campaign coming down and provokes discussion about a controversial case of The presses right to publish vs a politician’s right to privacy. It is a debate where both sides have a point, and your opinion may come down to which style of politics you subscribe to. The excellent cast makes compelling cases for both sides of the issue and the look inside and outside the process is insightful, especially to those who live outside the states. If you are looking for a political diversion, The Front Runner might be your best candidate.


Big names like Alfred Molina bring gravitas to the drama!

[jo]

Not a review but it looks like they deemed it timely to release the movie on TV/streaming/cable?

[jo]

Perhaps if this movie had been shown this year - it would have been more widely seen and widely discussed.

I don't think we saw or posted this CBS interview with Gary Hart of 2 years ago.

www.cbsnews.com/video/gary-hart-all-the-rules-have-changed-in-politics/

What I find remarkable, in this day and age - was that some decades ago was his extraordinary outlook or vision of the future, esp re
*the forthcoming role of technology in our lives
*the need for less dependence on oil
*the Persian Gulf conflict


which all happened!

One can appreciate fully why this role was favored by Hugh Jackman to take on... and in the process, also struck a friendship with a man who could have been...

Hugh is partly living his life via the later-day roles he has chosen to portray, not so much the character's real life and qualities...but the social implications of some of those stories (Les Miserables, The FrontRunner, Bad Education, maybe Prisoners, even The Greatest Showman) - those stories that impact on society's realities.


Jo

[jo]

In case you're interested - it is available on Amazon.

[jo]

There is a FOREWORD from Hugh Jackman --

[jo]

I do have some personal interest on the subject....and there have been many literature that are interesting discussions of democracy at work or democracy in peril. Even the book LES MISERABLES is not just the story of Valjean and Javert and Cosette and Marius and Enjolras -- but there were historical and fictional references to what happened during and after the French revolution. The Les Mis story happened decades after the French revolution and dealt with the student/citizen revolt many years later. Also, depending on what one's own country's political system is, there could be historical significance of how the political system impacts on lives and society. Many decades ago, we did have one political event that had such an impact...but current history seems to be doing some revisionism. But it is interesting to note the background of events and how they can impact the present and the future.

Jo