Initially, the most striking thing about The Front Runner is just how quaint it all is. Winding back the clock thirty years, we find a more easily scandalised society, that looks down upon electing a politician due to the controversies surrounding them. In 2018, the concept of anybody dropping out of the Presidential race due to scandals of extra-marital affairs has an innocence that seems near impossible to return to – especially after the election of a man revealed to have bragged about grabbing women “by the pussy” mere weeks before storming into the White House.
A Political Crowdpleaser-in-waiting
Jason Reitman’s film has proved to be somewhat controversial since its Telluride premiere earlier this year. What was, somewhat fittingly, originally believed to be an Oscar season frontrunner ended up falling out of favour instantaneously, summarised as being far more attuned to the political characteristics of one Donald Trump instead of a snapshot of a historical moment that foreshadowed the political freakshow which we now inhibit.
Of course, the film is far more complicated than that, and the parallels with Trump begin and end with the claims of extramarital affairs and the distrust of a media reporting them. And when broken down to the minutiae, there’s even less shared DNA between Gary Hart and the 45th President of the United States – although the questions the film raises feel more provocative than intended due to Trump’s penchant for using criticism of the media as a weapon.
Colorado senator Gary Hart (Hugh Jackman) is the favourite to become the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1988, but in just three weeks, his fortunes take an unexpected turn. His refusal to mention anything besides policy in interviews creates an appetite to find out more about his personal life – which is when a reporter from the Miami Herald winds up getting a call from a woman claiming her friend has had an affair with him. Noticing Hart has cancelled his campaigning plans for the weekend to go to Washington, just as the woman claims to be visiting him, an investigation is opened, and the manner in which politics is reported changed forever. Whether or not that’s for the better is up for debate.
The Front Runner raises questions that, at any other moment in modern history, would be far from controversial. Quite simply, we are asked as to whether a political candidate’s scandals should deny them the right to perform a task they’re qualified for, and more provocatively, whether the media has a responsibility to keep as many tabs on the personal lives of politicians, when the specifics of party policy often get drowned out in the process.
The film doesn’t offer any concrete answers, but when hostility to Trump remains at fever pitch among the majority of film critics, even gesturing in a thematic direction that could be misconstrued as being in his favour is dangerous. If it wasn’t for the horrific Republican politics of the modern era, I suspect The Front Runner (and its lack of definitive answers to the questions it poses) would be held in a far higher regard.
A movie of the moment – that mercifully doesn’t try to take a step into the present
One of the most refreshing aspects of Reitman’s film is that it doesn’t indulge in winking, anachronistic references to the current political climate. We are spared from Gary Hart being overheard spouting lines from the infamous Access Hollywood tape, just as we are any references to the modern woes of the Democratic Party (and although Hart and Trump seem intertwined in the eyes of many critics, Democrat Anthony “Carlos Danger” Weiner is the more fitting comparison).
But the current socio-political climate could be seen as hindering The Front Runner in other ways. Hart’s politics may be in little dispute, with the exception of one Trumpian moment where he tells bar dwellers that his aim is to keep Mexicans in Mexico by creating jobs there, but maintaining empathy despite his string of extra-marital affairs prove a somewhat harder sell in the #MeToo climate.
Jackman’s performance, far less restrained and more prone to anger than his level-headed real life counterpart, doesn’t portray him as a man worthy of empathy. Instead, spending time in his company is very deliberately shown as frustrating; a gifted politician due to the empathy engrained within his social policy, and yet somehow lacking the basic empathy to relate to those around him, and understand the significant ramifications of his womanising actions. He’s written neither as a villain, nor some saviour wronged by the press – he’s a complicated figure. Never loathsome, and if he were on the ballot in a hypothetical election, you’d want to cross the street to avoid him even if you had just cast your vote for him.
Reitman has never been the most distinctive filmmaker – if anything, his collaborations with screenwriter Diablo Cody show she is closer to be an auteur than he, due to his workmanlike directorial style. In this regard, The Front Runner is one of his best efforts, channeling Robert Altman but with one eye firmly on the mainstream; the opening take of journalists gathering outside Hart’s house following his failure to secure the Democrat nomination in 1984 could easily have fitted in Nashville, with its overlapping dialogue and offbeat rhythm. Reitman may not be a distinctive filmmaker, but he is more confident than ever before at channeling the greats, and not embarrassing himself in the process.
The Front Runner: Conclusion
The Front Runner has been cursed by circumstances through no fault of its own – a film asking audiences questions about politicians and the media that hostility to the current President renders unnecessary in this moment. But when the USA is safely within the next Democratic term of office, expect Reitman’s film to be looked back upon more fondly; it’s mightily enjoyable political entertainment, with crowd pleasing appeal even as it refuses to paint its themes in black and white.
Which political scandals deserve the big screen treatment? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
The Front Runner is released in the US on November 7, and in the UK on January 25. All international release dates are here.
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