Solid, enjoyable tour through The Fall of Gary Hart during the early Presidential campaigning season of 1987. Hugh Jackman is perfectly fine as the charismatic Hart, the Democratic Front Runner when we begin in 1987. His polling numbers suggested that he could beat presumptive Republican candidate George H.W. Bush. Well, we all know how that turned out.
Hart would become the first Presidential candidate whose campaign would be derailed by the sort of tabloid gossip previously, mostly, absent from Presidential campaigns. After him, the deluge! The accusations made against Hart now seem quaint in the Age of Trump. Well, quaint if one is a Republican. Democrats still savage their candidates over these and lesser outrages. The Republicans don't care.
The film-makers streamline the story of Hart somewhat, omitting a later, unsuccessful return to the Democratic race after his initial withdrawal. The story nonetheless still resonates, balancing the seeming puerility of the causes of Hart's political demise with characters who question Hart's decision-making abilities, his truthfulness, his ability to navigate political adversity, and the larger questions of male privilege and the inequality of power in certain 'relationships.'
In all, The Front Runner presents a sea change in how the media would cover politics and politicians. There's no small irony that Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee (played here by Alfred Molina) finally decides to go with the story, given that Bradlee spent the entire JFK Administration alternately covering up for, and partying with, JFK and friends. Recommended.
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