The Contender (2000)

When a politican is placed into a new position, there will be people who support their new title. Then there are those who will oppose. What is sad is that in modern times there are the people who oppose who will do whatever they can to prevent that politican to be elected. In the new political thriller THE CONTENDER, that is what the story is, but it's also a story of kicking someone when they are already down on the groung. President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges) has left the country guessing on who will replace the former vice-president who passed away a few weeks eariler. Most politicans and news reporters speculate that the nominee will be Governer Jack Hathaway (William L. Petersen). But President Evans surprises the nation by nominating Ohio Senator Laine Hanson (Joan Allen). A majority of the women in the U.S. are excited that finally a female is in a high political position. And the male democrats are also pleased because of her political viewpoints. However, there are some male politicans who are not happy to see Senator Hanson take the Vice President chair, espcially Shelly Runyon (Gary Oldman) who is in charge of a committee who must confirm Senator Hanson's appointment. Shelly enlists a young congressman, Reginald Webster (Christian Slater) to investigate the past history of Senator Hanson, particularly the scandals. While President Evans has his two aids, Kermin Newman (Sam Elliott) and Jerry Tolliver (Saul Rubinek) work around and try to respond to the scandals of Hanson's past so she can still get the public support and the nomination. THE CONTENDER is a film with little action, and it's mostly dialogue scenes for over two hours. Yet, this two hour film will grab onto the viewer's attention for it's film length, making the time go by very very very fast. I was hooked onto this film from the opening scene, and the next thing I realize, the film was already over! This political movie, like the Oliver Stone classic JFK, went by so quickly because the subject and characters are so fascinating that you think this was a documentary. This is one brillant masterpiece film that deals with politics that it will be ranked among MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, and THE CANDIDATE. It is more political fact than fiction, yet this is a story that was written for the screen. The message of this movie is, although you do not agree with the political viewpoints of a candidate, should you do whatever you can to destroy them? Including publicize that candidate's personal past that will humiliate and emotionally scar that person forever. And bring out to the public a past that one would like to forget, to that one's family, friends, fellow workers, and the population of the world. THE CONTENDER asks the viewer those questions, and also asks the viewer, if you were that person being investigated what could you do? I was really amazed on how much of a excellent thriller THE CONTENDER was. The acting by it's cast also made the film more realistic and exciting. Joan Allen is fantastic as the role of the Senator who is the victim of this sexual witchhunt. I thought Julia Roberts in ERIN BROCKOVICH was a shoe-in for Best Actress. But she might lose due to the performance given by Joan Allen, and I personally would like to see Allen get the Oscar. Gary Oldman is at his villainous best in this film. Unlike his villian roles in BRHAM STROKER'S DRACULA and AIR FORCE ONE, his role of Shelly Runyon is cruel and vicious as he not only wants to knock down a opponent but

Fmovies: This movie is unbearable...and I am a woman, a registered Democrat, and pro-choice feminist. "The Contender" is the very worst sort of heavy-handed and trite propaganda, that twists reality for it's own highly suspicious purposes.

Made shortly after the Clinton-Lewinksy scandals, the plot re-imagines a similar White House scandal, but centered around a female Vice Presidential candidate (a capable and always interesting Joan Allen, wasted here) who may have participated in an orgy while a college student. She is opposed for nomination by a sort of Newt Gingrich/Ken Starr hybrid creation played by Gary Oldman (excellent, but perhaps has done this sort of one dimensional villain a few times too many). Jeff Bridges, as a liberal Cllintonesque President, chews the scenery in a hammy performance that seems like leftover bits of "The Big Lebowski". (The running gag about him ordering elaborate snacks from the White House kitchen are particularly lame.)

"The Contender" has all the cinematic subtlety of one of those old silent movies that feature a saintly blonde heroine, victimized by a Snidley Whiplash type. All the bad guys -- who are, of course, Republican's ONLY -- are flat, one-note caricatures. The heroic Democrats are flat, one-note hero's, given to making stirring speeches.

The politics of the film is so extreme and one-sided that it left me scratching my head. A former Republican Senator (Allen), the daughter of a famous Republican Governor, switches to the Democratic party...although she is openly an atheist, pro-choice, anti-gun and so on. How on earth did she ever get elected as a Republican with such a platform? Her character is accused of participating in a orgy -- a phony accusation which she can easily disprove with a few words -- yet her refusal to do this is the basis for the entire film.

Sadly, the underlying ideas (how much of a political candidates personal life is legitimately worth of scrutiny and how much is entitled to be private?) is a very valid idea to discuss. In this film, the refusal of the script to tackle this idea head on renders the concept moot. It comes across as a lot of rather sad and deluded boosterism for political causes which are increasingly defeated at the polls by the voting public....."The Contender" is entirely out of touch with contemporary politics and it really has nothing worthwhile to say about Clinton, Ken Star or Monica Lewinsky, if indeed that was the purpose of all this sturm and drang.

I endured this film feeling deeply embarrassed for both Democrats and legitimately liberal causes. Fortunately, it was a box office failure (big surprise there!), and only an occasional presence on TV, so in this post 9/11 era (when presumably we have more life and death issues on the table than politicians and their sexual peccadillo's), this feels older and more tired out than the most simplistic political films of the 40s and 50s.

I looked forward to seeing this movie because I admire the work of Jeff Bridges, Sam Elliott, Gary Oldman and Joan Allen. After seeing this film, I hoped they had been paid well. It certainly did not showcase their talent.

The Contender has no characters, just caricatures - no script, but cliché piled on top of cliché - no plot, just a two-hour harangue filled with every bumper-sticker political slogan imaginable. If it was meant to be an intelligent criticism of the state of American politics, it actually fell below the actual state of American politics (if such a thought is even conceivable).

Contemporary screenplays provide more than ample evidence of the general poverty of writing in Hollywood, but The Contender has to rank as one of the worst political screenplays ever. Every politician is a cynical and amoral SOB and though I may tend to agree with the characterization, it would have been useful to have someone show some small degree of integrity. Of course, Ms. Allen is Ms. Integrity through and through - she seems consistently honest, though one marvels at the superficiality of her political philosophy and the motivation for her behavior.

At the conclusion of the film, the director informs us that he made the movie "for our daughters". If I wanted my daughter to enter politics, live a life of personal integrity, and actually do something positive for this country, this would be the last film I would recommend to her.

The Contender fmovies. This movie could have been great. The first half was dramatic, compelling, believeable, and character-driven. The 2nd half degenerated into the tawdriest and most unbelieveable sort of political propagandizing imagineable. It's hard to believe, in fact, that the person who wrote the first half of this movie also wrote the 2nd half.

The first half of this movie is very human...a story about people in politics, being tested by morally ambiguous circumstances. Their actual politics, while clearly laid out, are secondary. Moviemakers used to wisely recognize the folly of imposing their own political views on their audience, and made sure that political expressions were limited to those that were fairly universally accepted--truth, honesty, and so forth. Remember "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"? "The Contender," however, goes out of its way to do the exact opposite.

Near the beginning of the movie,Laine Hanson (an ubelieveably saintly Republican-turned-Democrat) is speaking to her father, a retired Republican Governor, whom the filmmakers gratuitously have chide his grandchild for his kindergarten teacher's having mentioned Jesus in the classroom. Teachers are there to "teach, not preach," and he denounces her remark about Jesus as "superstition"--quite beside anything remotely pertinent to the story. His remark, though, is pointed, his attitude is bizarrely sneering for what the writers clearly hope to pass off as an aside. The movie gets much worse, though. Later, during what is supposed to be a rousing and morally superior closing statement before the Senate Confirmation Committee that has been questioning her moral suitability, she proudly declares herself to be an atheist who worships in the "chapel of democracy." During the same speech, she declares that she wants to remove "every gun from every household," that she supports a woman's sacred right to choose, and so on and so forth. Standard political boilerplate. (Curiously, she states at one point that she left the Republican party when they moved away from the values she espouses. I wonder...when has the Republican party EVER espoused gun banning, abortion, abolition of the death penalty, or any of the causes for which Laine now so zealously crusades? Are the filmmakers trying to make her seem thoughtful and fairminded in her zeal? Come on!)

Okay, so what's wrong with this? She's a politician expressing political ideals? First of all, the speech is hoaky as can be, with music clearly meant to raise us to a pitch of (left-wing) patriotism...the effect, though is embarrassing. I was uncomfortable for Joan Allen having to recite such awful lines. Second, she's is supposed to be a moderate Democrat...yet all the views she expresses extremely left-wing. Even Republicans in this movie espouse leftist ideology (like her father). The one person who expresses a conservative viewpoint is Gary Oldman's character, a political hardball player who during the confirmation hearings is given to snarling at this poor woman for supporting a "holocause" of "unborn babies." The cliches are fast and furious. To show, however, that Runyon (Oldman's character) is--or WAS-- a good man, the writers trot out his haggard wife and have her remind him of the time he stood for something good...the time he stood up for hate crime legislation! Amazing. Third, the filmmakers take all this silly rhetoric as seriously as Laine Hanson does! In fact, if this movie's failure can b

Greetings again from the darkness. Director Rod Lurie is living my fantasy. After a career as a movie critic, he is now directing some of Hollywood's best (and under-utilized) actors and actresses. This little thriller is fun to watch thanks mostly to the skills of those on the screen. All of these actors should work more ... SHARE your talent. Jeff Bridges is a very pompous, yet charming, smooth talking president. I assume the list to play the president was short, thanks to a couple of script lines about Clinton. Joan Allen is excellent as the cool senator with the lurid past (?) who is nominated for the VP slot. Gary Oldman, who continues to reinvent the role of CREEP, steals every scene he is in. Of course, this happens in all of his movies! It is always nice to see Sam Elliott and William Petersen on screen. And I guess Christian Slater is trying to salvage a career after the disastrous "Very Bad Things". He has lost some smugness and tempered his Jack Nicholson dialect. My only disappointment with the movie was in the script. Although I love the subject matter and the issues raised, I kept waiting for the shoe to drop on Gary Oldman's charater's deep, dark secret. Jeff Bridges stifling his political career seem quite the letdown. Would have really enjoyed a few more plot twists to really test the audience and cast. My tidbit for this one comes from the career of Sam Elliott. Next time you are watching "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", check out a young Sam Elliott in the early card playing scene. Also, William Petersen's power-hungry wife in "The Contender" is played by Kristen Shaw, a carry-over from Rod Lurie's film, "Deterrence".

The Contender is a film with the potential to take any conscientious person with even a mild interest in how governments are run , and who the leaders are through a non-stop roller-coaster ride of challenge, triumph, pain, failure, and morality. Although I intensely appreciated this movie, I do not believe this could have been an oscar-winning film because the truths it expresses with regards to the presence of women in high ranking political positions far outway its acting and directing talents, with the possible exception of Gary Oldman's role as Shelly Runyon, who was frighteningly convincing at being an absolutely awful man. I enjoyed this movie because of its intention to show what women in politics really face. The strength displayed by Laine Hanson (Joan Allen) while up for vice president is nothing short of inspirational. Gary Oldman's character provides us with a good idea of how manipulative and ruthless people can be when in a position of power and, ironically, when they have been put in a position to judge another's morality. This film seems so realistic that we tend to forget it's a movie. It makes us question, why does a person have to be surrounded by such controversy and be forced to take on such a defensive position, simply for being a woman? What I appreciated is the refusal of Hanson to succomb to the pressure of taking that defensive position, regardless of the truth. Of course, the other refreshing aspect in this movie is Jeff Bridges' role as an ideal president.

All in all, it is a long overdue account of reality, with great character development but not recommended for those with short attention spans, as it is dialogue, and lots of it.