Movie review: 'The Front Runner' a better journalism story than political drama
“The Front Runner” - ★ ★ ★
Jason Reitman's “The Front Runner” may not be the best example of political drama, but it should be mandatory viewing for students of journalism for its quasi-comical view of bumbling reporters who accidentally trip over the truth.
“Front Runner” tells a multifaceted story about how Colorado Sen. Gary Hart (played by Hugh Jackman under an awkward thatch of Hart-inspired hair) almost became the 1988 Democratic candidate for U.S. president.
The charming, smart and charismatic Kennedy-esque Democrat might have been elected ... if the married candidate hadn't been so cavalier about his conquests on the campaign trail.
And, after being questioned about his marital fidelity, he hadn't challenged reporters (at least in this story) to “Follow me around! Put a tail on me! You'll be very bored!”
Three Miami Herald journalists took him up on his offer, and they did not become bored.
They did, despite operating one of the most comically incompetent stakeouts in journalism history, observe a blonde woman going into his townhouse, and not leaving.
She was definitely not his wife Lee (Vera Farmiga).
The media storm over Hart's alleged infidelity quickly sank his White House hopes, leaving him bewildered as to how it happened.
Reitman, channeling Robert Altman's long, lengthy shots and overlapping dialogue, does this story (based on Matt Bai's book “All the Truth is Out”) due diligence.
He shows us how the candidate failed to see the post-Watergate sea-change in the press from the days of LBJ, JFK and FDR whose adulterous affairs were willfully ignored by reporters. And how Hart mistakenly believed the public wouldn't stand for the tabloid press invasion of his privacy.
Reitman gives us Lee Hart's perspective as the wronged wife, pushed to her emotional limits by her husband.
He lets us listen in on the conversations between pragmatic Washingon Post editor Ben Bradlee (Alfred Molina) and his staffers, including idealistic young reporter A.J. Parker (Mamoudou Athie, a composite of noble journalists of the sort depicted in “Spotlight,” “All the President's Men” and “The Post”).
He reveals how devastated Hart's campaign manager Bill Dixon (J.K. Simmons) became after his candidate failed his supporters, who believed he stood for something.
Finally, “The Front Runner” looks at how blonde model Donna Rice (Sara Paxton) became crushed by her affair with the handsome senator she met aboard the now-infamous Monkey Business yacht.
By balancing these characters, Reitman misses a bigger picture, the underlying theme of abusive male power that permeates every segment of this narrative.
Jackman imbues Hart with an entitled sense of narcissism rendering him incapable of caring about the lives and hopes destroyed by his undisciplined libido.
A sharp, observant female Post reporter nails it by calling Hart a chauvinist.
“He is a man with power and opportunity,” she says, sounding like Peter Parker's Uncle Ben, and that requires responsibility.
Even though A.J. Parker doesn't exist, his character asks the question that brings down a senator's career.
It's a reminder from Reitman, who illustrated the power of language in his black comedy “Thank You For Smoking,” that journalists can't just ask questions.
They must ask the right ones.
<b>Starring:</b> Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons, Alfred Molina, Mamoudou Athie
<b>Directed by:</b> Jason Reitman
<b>Other:</b> A Columbia Pictures release. In limited release. Rated R for language, sexual references. 112 minutes