“A lot can happen in three weeks,” appears in text – among other info – in the beginning of Jason Reitman’s latest film, The Front Runner. I couldn’t help but chuckle, given how the current state of things make it seem like a months worth of breaking news stories pile up in a period of only a few hours.
The same could be said of the film’s subject, Gary Hart (Hugh Jackman), who is running in, what seems to be, a fool proof campaign for the 1988 presidential election when things suddenly and swiftly crash and burn once it was discovered that he had an extramarital affair.
Earlier this year, I reviewed Tully, and it’s a film where that showed just how much Reitman and screenwriter, Diablo Cody, bring the best out of each other. That artistic synergy is sorely lacking in The Front Runner. While Reitman isn’t necessarily left to his own devices (he is credited as a co-writer with Matt Bai and Jay Carson), there is a distinct lack of a personal touch. It seems to be going for a Robert Altman-esque feel with its ensemble cast, and talky narrative, but it all comes off as dry, monotonous, and hollow. The details in adapting the story might be all on point, but it lacks any vision or perspective. You’re just passively watching as these events unfold, and it tries a bit too hard to offer multiple points-of-view about the situation, to the point where it doesn’t feel like it’s so much exploring the complexity of it as much as it can’t make up its mind on what kind of story it wants to tell.
The performances are fine, I suppose. Hugh Jackman is, as always, a charismatic presence, which is very well utilized in certain sequences, but there’s an exhaustion and defensiveness to his Hart that seems to be ever present, even before the scandal hits. It’s an odd choice that makes his eventual downfall feel less impactful. The supporting cast is quite promising with folks like Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons, Alfred Molina, Sara Paxton, Mamoudou Athie, Bill Burr, Mike Judge, and many others. However, they mostly just end up being walking mouthpieces and less like fully realized characters. It seems odd to cast someone like Bill Burr or Mike Judge, and not give them anything funny to say. The way the situation escalates allows for a satiric bent similar to Reitman’s debut, Thank You For Smoking, but the film is clearly not interested for whatever reason.
The film isn’t necessarily boring, the events are compelling enough as is to keep you engaged, but the film doesn’t go any deeper than that. It’s not because it doesn’t want to, but it seems unsure of what to say or how to say it. The film flirts with something interesting when we finally get to hear from the woman who Hart cheated with, Donna Rice (Sara Paxton), but the film doesn’t know what to do with her, so she eventually leaves. It also seems a skosh insidious to make a film at this point in time that, more often than not, frames the press as the antagonistic force, while having Hart come across as the well-meaning victim who doesn’t get the chance to do what he had hoped as President because of a single mistake, for which he is totes sorry for, you guys. At least, I think he is.
I don’t think I’d go as far as to call The Front Runner bad, but it’s hella mediocre, and a rather disappointing follow-up to Tully on Reitman’s part. It’s a confused film that wants to be topical, but doesn’t want to commit to any theme or idea that can actually explore the complicated ways in navigating the public space as a politician, and their relationship to the press. It’s an utterly toothless film that fails to say anything remotely interesting about its story and its characters, despite having a lot of promising material to work with. It’s like watching Chappaquiddick (bet you forgot that movie existed, huh?) all over again – compelling groundwork and talented people all wasted.