Rating: 
Summary: Another OUTSTANDING movie Oscar overlooked...
Review: After seeing The Contender, I am absolutely floored by the audacity and outright unmitigated gall of the movie Academy in overlooking this film when nomination time rolled around. Joan Allen was absolutely riveting and brilliant in the lead role of this film. It was truly made for her. Her elegance, beauty, dignity, and sheer integrity shine in this film and come across as geniune and true-to-form. She is truly an Oscar-caliber actress who should have been nominated (and therefore won) the Oscar for Best Actress. Without her performance, the film would be lacking. Jeff Bridges gives his usual excellent performance, and Gary Oldman is so believable in this role I forgot that he is a truly brilliant actor and a distinguished gentleman. Good performances alike from the remainder of the cast round out the rest of the film and it is truly entertaining from beginning to end. Kudos to the writer/director for a job well done!
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing special.
Review: Movie was mediocre. Nothing stood out in my mind about this movie. This one's a renter, folks.
Rating: 
Summary: Really suspenseful if you've never seen a movie before.
Review: Joan Allen is her usual jaw-clenching, uptight self as the VP designate. When asked about falling for her own husband, she moans: "Love is an involuntary reflex, and I fell victim to it." Protagonists are more interesting when they display a pulse.And what a cartoonish bad guy Gary Oldman is for an allegedly serious movie. GASP! as he pads around the house in dorky pajamas. TREMBLE! as he wears a suit purchased from a Richard Dawson rummage sale. SCREAM! as he cunningly fails to return phone messages. But the one thing that really made me realize that this was one bad dude? When he gushed "She's a looker!" about Joan Allen's character. Yeah, Oldman's scary all right. There is one bright spot, but far too insignificant to save this picture--Sam Elliott, who steals the show as Bridges' profane, masterful chief of staff.
Rating:
Summary: is this review forum a conservative rant room?
Review: Great film with fine acting. I'm a moderate and I found the movie well made and slanted, yes, but not propagandist. I would think that there are more appropriate outlets for partisan diatribes than a movie site. It's just a story, not an historical archive.
Rating:
Summary: Great story, great performances...
Review: This film lives up to the reputation I encountered before first watching it - a wonderful return to the long absent genre of quality political thrillers. The story is well woven, if a little predictable, and the characters are exceptionally well played. Joan Allen, Geoff Bridges and Gary Oldman all pull off outstanding performances - if forced to choose I would have to say that Oldman clinched it for me. His character portrayal was nothing short of brilliant. If there was a downside it had to be the inevitability of the outcome - but then this is Hollywood.
Rating: 
Summary: Sad Reminder of How We Got Here
Review: I'm a BIG fan of Joan Allen but I'm appalled that she let herself be cast in this remarkably inane film. A far better vehicle for her is "The Crucible" but I suppose she was tempted by the starring role presented here. This film tries to impress us by revealing how politics works "from the inside." Instead, we're left with the indelible impression of a film-maker trying to dazzle us with sophistication but instead falling flat on his face with boring, set-piece scenes and a listless, unbelievable script. The musical score tries to bolster things by setting a "serious" tone but you end up cringing at this nonsense. The very idea of portraying an avowed pro-choice atheist - who would remove "every gun from every home in America" - as being considered for vice-president reveals a profound disconnect with reality. How could anyone, even slightly acquainted with modern American politics, take this nonsense seriously? From watching The Contender, someone from Mars could easily conclude that those holding the harnesses of power in America are either sexually obsessed, morally detestible religious hypocrites or truly righteous, wonderfully kind, morally upright atheists. There is very little shading between these totally absurd extremes. The comic relief (e.g. the President's penchant for ordering custom made snacks from the White House Chef) is mildly amusing but mainly reminds us of the banality of the script. Couldn't the President have been portrayed, at least once, as concerned about something other than (a) partisan political maneuvering, or (b) what his next meal will be? Obviously, the film-maker's model for the President was the loathesome Clinton. The goal, I believe, was to show what a jocular, "regular" guy the President (i.e. Clinton) really is (was). The unintended achievement of this ridiculous, hackneyed film, however, is to remind us all how tragically frivolous American politics became under Clinton, a condition which inevitably led to the profound grieving playing out in endless funerals, processions, and memorial services now taking place in New York City.
Rating:
Summary: Not really plausible...
Review: This film left me underwhelmed. I suppose the movie worked on a potboiler level, but the politics were pretty one-sided &
the characters too one-note. There aren't really any moments in which the characters have internal struggles They all are pretty much set in their ways. No one seems morally torn by the issues at hand (unlike a film like "Quiz Show") this is fine, i suppose, but not as interesting as the material could be. Joan Allen was fine as Laine Hanson, but the character was underwritten. She has principles, I understand, but the way that the movie exonerates her is pretty ridiculous. She's as much a saint as Selma in Dancer in the Dark, but this movie has no sense of irony & expects us to accept her as is. Oh well... Particularly infuriating are Bridges' speech to congress & the following applause, but the film is filled with Capra-esque flourishes that simply don't work in a modern political film.
Rating:
Summary: Great Joan Allen flick
Review: After I saw this movie, the guy I watched it with and I had a huge debate over the movie's ending. I mention this to emphasize how thought-provoking this movie is. It will definately spark a nerve in women and prompt discussion. The movie follows a woman who is a contender for vice president but her candidacy is questioned due to a video allegedly depicting her in a non-virtuous light. Her response, and the response of those around her, makes a fascinating tale. Gary Oldman is the man you love to hate -- not because he seems to represent the moral right-wing, but because he's particularly vicious, and his politcal tactics will make you very uneasy. Thoughout this movie, Joan Allen is poised, with a hint of vulnerablility. Those who loved her performance in Pleasantville will enjoy watching her here as well. I thoroughly recommend this movie.
Rating:
Summary: crackling political drama
Review: Writer/director Rod Lurie's "The Contender" marks a significant advance in both technique and storytelling ability for this fledgling filmmaker over his sole previous cinematic effort, "Deterrence." This former L.A. film critic-turned-filmmaker has created a crackerjack political thriller attuned to the temper of its times. In this era in which one politician after another has fallen victim to the cutthroat "politics of personal destruction" as practiced in the media, in the committee hearing room and in the backrooms of campaign headquarters around the nation, "The Contender" emerges as a timely, astute and politically savvy drama. Like most contemporary films that deal with political issues, "The Contender" demonstrates an obvious left leaning bias. As usual, it is the Democrats who are portrayed as the righteous speakers of truth and the Republicans who are shown as the scheming, unctuous and conniving dispensers of hatred and rumormongering. Jeff Bridges stars as President Jackson Evans, a well-meaning, seemingly moral man who, upon the sudden death of his vice president, nominates a woman, Senator Laine Hanson, to be his replacement. Gary Oldman plays the Republican chairman who will stop at nothing in his efforts to torpedo the nomination, even if that means exposing her rather torrid sexual past for all the world to see (although, in many ways, his obsession with ruining the chances of a candidate he feels to be less qualified in favor of one who is more beloved as a national figure makes little practical sense because wouldn't he, as a member of the rival party, be MORE inclined to support someone he thought would bring trouble to the present administration?) If you can see past the partisan propaganda, you will find "The Contender" to be one of the most riveting films of the past several years. In many ways, it reminds one of those Biblical spectaculars that moviemakers like Cecil B. DeMille used to churn out in the 1950's, the ones that would allow us to wallow in the depiction of all sorts of "sinful" activities, yet when the divine judgments began to fall on the perpetrators, permit us to feel morally superior to it all at the same time. In a similar way, "The Contender," may come out foursquare against the obsession we seem to have concerning the sex lives of our elected officials - but it sure has a fun time devoting two solid hours to the topic. And its fun is ours. One of the reasons that "The Contender" succeeds so well is because Laine Hanson, as portrayed by the brilliant Joan Allen, is an endlessly fascinating and enigmatic character. We never know quite what to make of her and it is this sense of moral imbalance that draws us in to her plight. Had she been made an innocent victim or a goody-two-shoes, she would quickly lose our interest. As the President, seemingly more concerned with ordering up spectacular dishes from the White House kitchen than with the pressing concerns of affairs of state, Jeff Bridges cuts just as believable and compelling a figure. As with virtually all films of a political nature, the characters' actions are occasionally inexplicable within the context of practical politics. For example, President Evans rejects one of his top candidates for the VP position for ludicrous reasons. When Governor Jack Hathaway attempts but fails to rescue a woman from her vehicle that has crashed to the bottom of a river, Evans tells Hathaway that he believes the Republicans will try to bring up parallels to Chappaquiddick in an attempt to sink his nomination. Not only is that a patently absurd possibility, but Evans seems blithely unconcerned about the much worse drubbing he and his eventual nominee end up undergoing. Which leads us to the next implausibility - Evans' sticking by Hanson far past the point where any real president would have asked for the candidate to withdraw her name. Oh well, "The Contender" may not always ring true in its plotting, but it definitely gets the job done as a piece of titillating pulp drama. My only serious complaint with the film comes in its closing stretches. Perhaps it is too much, in these days of mandatory happy endings and feel-good emotionalism, to expect the type of clear-eyed cynical conclusions we were treated to in movies like "The Candidate" or "The Best Man," but the upbeat, fairy tale resolution here is unworthy of all the good stuff that has gone before it. By climbing onto a soapbox and deigning to lecture to us all, Lurie cops out on both Hanson and the audience - striving for the type of phony inspirationalism that went out with "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" way back in the 1930's. Such an obvious sop to the box office leaves us with a bit of a sour aftertaste after all is said and done. (Also, Lurie needs to shed himself of the gimmick he seems to have latched onto in both his films thus far - that of the melodramatic "surprise" turnabout ending. It didn't work in "Deterrence" and it doesn't work here). Yet, despite its sundry flaws, "The Contender" emerges as one of the most compelling and fast-moving two hours you are likely to see in a long time. You may feel like taking a shower when it's all over (maybe that explains the need Lurie may have had in providing a "moral bath" in the last 15 minutes or so), but you will at least have had a great time getting dirty.
Rating:
Summary: President Lebowsky
Review: When viewed as an unlikely companion piece to The Big Lebowsky, this film is a hoot! I kept expecting the Presidential Chief of Staff to assure us, "The Dude abides". As a political story, it's OK, with a predictable twist at the end.
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