The Contender

Rating:
Summary: it "coulda been" a great film....
Review: "The Contender," pursuant to political intrigue and bias, could have been a great movie. It certainly had a fine cast. I hope we have such a film one day.

Skipping over the far wing rhetoric on today's debates, there were too many holes in this film. As often the case of strictly armchair *authors*, the ends justify the means and to blazes with supportive/coraborative evidence/scenes. (i.e., the car incident, home movie, witness statements, live interview, etc..)

A rewrite with informed consultants and a director with at least one foot in reality could go on to create a classic. Again, the premise and cast are fine. Perhaps the political machine mechanizations deserve better revelation as per trade-offs and compromises. While this attempt may be worthy of a look-see at a dollar cinema, I would tell a friend to reconsider adding it to their DVD collection. They can borrow my copy.:)

Rating:
Summary: The Well-Wrought Bamboozle
Review: This movie was a tremendous relief to my sense of integrity. Under ordinary circumstances I'm a good knee-jerk liberal on just about all issues, public and private. (I realize that I've just talked myself out of any elected office, down to and including Sewer Inspector, in the current political climate, but never mind). Once in awhile I wonder, as we all must, if I still have the capacity to think for myself or if I simply swallow the party line. Well, apparently I do; I am proud to say that I consider _The Contender_, a movie with a political slant that I agree with wholeheartedly, to be an intellectually dishonest piece of claptrap.

So much for my rant, but let's consider this logically - and I'm sure I'm not giving anything away here because by now everyone knows how this thing ends, if they didn't before it was even made. Joan Allen plays a liberal-minded former Republican senator who has joined the Democratic party and is under consideration as the vice-presidential nominee. Gary Oldman wangles his way into chairmanship of the committee that is about to recommend her confirmation or not. He declares at once that he will do anything at all to prevent her from getting the job, up to and including smearing her reputation on national television based on some sexual hijincks she allegedly got up to in college. Now, here's the critical point; Oldman's character is willing to go that far because, as he says, he genuinely believes that her liberal agenda is a cancer, profoundly dangerous for the country, and must be stopped at all costs.

I ask you to do this; pretend that you are a member of Congress with a sincere conservative point of view. You genuinely believe that liberalism has gone too far and is damaging the life of Americans. You go into the joint session presented at the end of this movie to see what President Jeff Bridges will say about his nominee, who has apparently become a severe political liability. And what do you hear your president say? He informs you that Oldman and his friends have abused their positions as senators, used tactics to destroy his nominee that they must not get away with. So far, so good. He tells you that those who use such tactics are destructive to the United States and its ability to govern itself, and that these men are therefore traitors. Well, maybe. He says that clearly their only reason for doing as they did was that they can't face the idea of a woman in high executive office. Wait a minute. He then tells you and your colleagues that, to demonstrate that you are not traitors of Oldman's kind, he would like you to immediately confirm his nominee as Vice President of the United States.

Now, hold it right there. You sincerely believe that this woman and those of her opinion are genuinely dangerous, and your president has just told you that if you don't confirm her you're a traitor. The last time someone in government insisted on intellectual conformity of that kind, his name was Joseph McCarthy.

The very least these moviemakers could have done was just come right out and give their conservative characters no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Like I said, I'm a liberal; I supported Bill Clinton through the Lewinsky scandal because, like the makers of this film, I didn't think it was okay for anyone to be asking about the president's sex life, or anyone else's for that matter. I felt a certain thrill when those old pervs in Congress were hoist on their own petard. I'm not about to put up with cheating, however, and _The Contender_ is a cheat.

All the more depressing is this dishonesty because this movie is made so well. The cast is uniformly good, sometimes excellent, the dialogue sparkles and the cinematography and editing come from the top drawer. I mean, come on, look at who's participating - Gary Oldman is always interesting to watch, Joan Allen projects dignity with every step, Christian Slater is growing into a very fine and mature actor, and as for Jeff Bridges...well, the man is congenitally incapable of giving a bad performance and this movie maintains his record admirably. How discouraging it is that all this talent and hard work went into the service of something so unfair.

Like most people I'd prefer to think that all the sleaziness is on the other side of my position - obviously that's not so, but _The Contender_ was jarring in the shamelessness of its cheating. Now, I'm not so removed from reality that a mere movie is going to change my politics; on the other hand, this one comes close. My thanks to the makers of _The Contender_ for their services to myself, as I can now confirm my own ability to perceive the flaws of my co-liberals - now it's back to unabashedly liberal movies like _The American President_ for me.

Benshlomo says, Real allies don't insult your intelligence.

Rating:
Summary: Brave film pulls no punches
Review: On the surface, The Contender is about a woman's advancement in her male-dominated career, politics in this instance, and the road blocks which are put in her way simply because she is a woman. Will a woman reach the highest level of the executive, the film asks. Of course. Does it matter that the highest level of office may be held by a woman? Of course not. Assuming she is the best person for the job, why should it.

And yet, this moral fantasy cannot and will not be played out without the road blocks put in place. There will be challenges to the right of leadership and this is where the film introduces its central and integral theme and that is the public's right to know about those in 'power'; their history, their sexual exploits, their monetary holdings. Is it a right or is it an invasion of privacy? Do past 'deviancies' reflect the present skills of those in office?

Canada's past Prime Minister Trudeau once wisely stated that the government had no place in the bedroom. Perhaps then, it must follow, that the public must also stay out of the bedroom of its citizens no matter what their job title or political affiliations.

In the wake of President Clinton's adulterous nation shocker, the film drives its stake to the very heart of that particular debate. Not whether or not Clinton having sex with another woman was a morally corrupt, but whether his sexual activities was a family matter or a public one.

The Contender's strength is that it is not afraid to make a statement. It is not afraid to point fingers and say what it believes to be right and what actions it believes to be wrong. It doesn't leave it for the audience to decide. It decides for you. It judges its characters not by who they are but by what they do. A strong reminder of which the current legal and political systems should take note.

Christian Slater's character, the up and coming starry eyed freshman politician, dares to defy his President, claiming he should make his decisions based on what his heart tells him to do. And he stands up to the retaliatory threats of the President. In fact, each main character throughout, is guided honourably by their hearts. Each one is pushed to their fates by their principals. Joan Allen's Senator Laine Hanson, the central figure who finds herself in the middle of an all-out public sex scandal, gently reminds those which challenge her that "principles only matter if you stick by them when they're inconvenient." Brave words. And braver still to hold on to them as truth.

The Contender's biggest publicity flaw was to push the film as a thriller. A thriller it is not. A first-rate drama it is. All performances are top-knotch with an extra nod to Gary Oldman's portrayal of the politician who first builds the very dangerous and contentious house of cards. The Contender is first rate not simply because of the questions that it raises, but because it is not afraid to give an answer. Answers create reactions. Answers make it good or bad. It doesn't care to be liked, or disliked. It is there to make a statement, and whether you agree or disagree, its statement is undeniably strong.

Rating:
Summary: Principals V Power could it happen?
Review: I liked this film. Why? I really don't know how to answer that. In the real world it would take a very secure/brave President to support someone who was 'tainted'.The point is well made between the male and female contenders. Would a President really put themselves on the line? No, I don't think so. However, having said that, if this was their swan song, what else did they have to lose? History would condem/redeem them, as is the nature of hisorical studies. The acting in this film is superb, its so natural that you actually forget that its scripted.I know that the 'Contender' has principals, but you'd need to be a saint not to fight back. However,for we mere mortals, at least she had the 'powers that be' on her side, which is a twist and very unexpected.What is great about this film is that, it allows you to see both sides of the argument, in that respect its very fair. Part of the film I felt was very contrived but having said that I really enjoyed it.I live in the UK and only came by chance to this film. I wish it had been better publicized here.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but defeats its own argument
Review: Masterly performances from Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges and especially Gary Oldman (who deserved an Oscar nomination just for letting them do that to his hair), and an economical screenplay which doesn't give too much away too soon, all ensure "The Contender" is an entertaining and thought-provoking experience. Allen plays the Vice Presidential nominee forced to endure an inquisition into her character which uncovers an alleged sexual indiscretion from her college days. In refusing to confirm or deny the allegation, she makes the case that the private lives of public figures are nobody's business but their own. We have no right to know. Whether or not you agree with her doesn't really matter. What does matter, I think, is that having made this case so strongly, we are then given a scene in which all is revealed! It's almost as if the film-makers couldn't resist scratching our itch to know what really happened that night in the frat house. Consequently, the film's entire argument is undermined in a single scene.

Rating:
Summary: Did she or Didn't she?....Who Cares.
Review: This political/thriller can't grasp the third star because it really qualifies as neither. There is really nothing wrong with the acting, in fact Sam Elliott is quite good as a ruthless White House Chief of Staff and Jeff Bridges as the President keeps up a comical running gag in which he attempts to order something from the White House kitchen that they don't have. But sadly the script is full of turgid prose that is simply not believeable, politicians, in fact nobody, talks this way in private, and barely in public. Rather than an edge of your seat suspensful ending you simply wait for it to end. Joan Allen plays a Democratic Senator nominated for an open slot for the Vice-Presidency. A scandal mongering Republican threatens to mire down the process and derail the nomination. The Allen character becomes so self-rightous that rather than rooting for her by the end I just wished she would quit. A rather good premise poorly executed. Too many political thrillers are so heavy handed and try to make the political process much more complex and mysterious than it really is. From good political backdrop drama try 'All The President's Men' or 'Fail Safe'. For satire see 'Wag the Dog'.

Rating:
Summary: Lurie trying to "enlighten" the unenglightened?
Review: The liberal slant in this film was too blatant, it was offensive. I consider myself a social conservative and fiscal moderate. I hope to God that no pro-Choice, God hating, atheistic, "anything goes because it's all about how you feel" politician even gets a cabinet position let alone the VP or Presidency. It turns out that the Right was right about the nominee, just like the Lewinsky scandal.

Rating:
Summary: 2-hour commercial for the left
Review: I didn't know this was a comedy, but I sure got some laughs out of it. The sad part is, it's true! This 2-hour commercial for leftist views was an obvious attempt to show that private acts do not affect public office (Bill Clinton). The characters condone abortion, adultery, illicit sex, etc.

Rating:
Summary: I really enjoyed this political thriller
Review: Reviewers and audiences have been contentious about The Contender. Some have said that it has a liberal bias. Others have claimed that the events portrayed could never in today's Washington, DC. The ending has been criticized as unrealistic, although I saw it as merely hopeful. I say The Contender is only a movie and is meant to reflect, not to mirror exactly, real life. I think it is the best political thriller in many years.

The time is the not so distant future. It has been three weeks since the Vice President of the United States died of natural causes. President Jackson Evans [Jeff Bridges] is being pressured to pick a replacement. Evans is a liberal with a year and a half left to serve. Naturally, he wants to nominate someone he can work with, but there are also the needs of the powerful political right to consider. One major contender is the Governor of Virginia, Jack Hathaway [William L. Petersen], who recently made headlines for attempting to save a young woman whose car plummeted into a lake in which he was fishing. Senator Laine Hanson [Joan Allen] turns out to be the other likely candidate and soon becomes the front-runner in the eyes of the President. He likes her, and he thinks having a woman in the job will add to his legacy. There are several things about Hanson that bother the opposition, not the least of which is the fact that she is a woman. When information is magically unearthed about a sexual encounter Hanson had in college, the fireworks begin. What follows is a story about more than a struggle for power in the most powerful city on Earth. It is a story about keeping one's dignity in a time when the intimate [and often irrelevant] details of one's life are aired in public by petty people in power. It is also one about the importance of sticking to one's principals, even when those principals become inconvenient.

As Senator Hanson, Joan Allen gives a riveting performance that rightfully has gained her a nomination for Best Actress. I have rarely seen a portrayal this good concerning what it is like to be a powerful woman in a world that is still dominated by men. To the movie's credit, Hanson is a character who likes men and is quite comfortable in their presence. Her husband, for example, is her lover, her best friend and her greatest political ally. She fits in more easily around the President than do most of the males who work with him. Hanson believes that, while there are sometimes differences in the way men and women think and act, there should never be a situation in which the rules that apply to men are applied differently to women. This is only one of her beliefs that riles her opposition,

As great as Allen is in The Contender, the spotlight is shared equally by Jeff Bridges, one of our most shamefully underrated actors. His President Evans is smart, shrewd and cunning. Evans is an essentially good man, but it is clear that in any political situation, it is best not to be his enemy. Only someone as brilliant as Bridges could make the character so believable.

If you decide to see The Contender, I beg you to put aside your political opinions for a couple of hours, if you can. Director and writer Rod Lurie is an admitted liberal, and some of the issues he addresses, such as abortion, are political hot potatoes. Consider, though, that it would have been a less interesting movie if no controversial subjects had been brought up. Had Hanson and Evans been written as conservatives, the principals the movie examines would have been just as relevant. Sometimes it's refreshing to see a movie that sparks a lively debate with the person you see it with.

Rating:
Summary: COMMON PLACE "PATRIOTIC" MOVIE...
Review: THE CONTENDER has a first-class cast, no doubt about it. THe guys are really good.
But the history goes predictably into the good x evil cliche, where the Presidente is too perfect, OLdman is too bad.