Front Runner (5/10)

by Tony Medley

Runtime 107 minutes.

R.

Director Jason Reitman spoke to our small gathering of critics (approximately 15) in the screening room before we viewed the film. He said that he didn’t remember Democratic Senator Gary Hart because he was too young, but when he recently heard about it he felt that it was ripe for a film.

He said it’s not really about Gary Hart. Rather, it’s about the 20-30 people who were around him for the three weeks of the Donna Rice affair that torpedoed his quest for the Presidency in 1988.

The first 45 minutes are painfully boring as Reitman shows a campaign in progress and introduces the characters. Rice (Sara Paxton) doesn’t enter the picture until then, which is when the film picks up pace as Hart’s candidacy crashes in flames.

I met Rice more than a decade ago at a conservative political meeting, and she was nothing like this. This film shows her as a quintessential bimbo, cheaply beautiful but really dumb and inept. The real Donna Rice was beautiful, but not in a cheap way. And she was smart and knowledgeable. After the Hart affair she got married and as Donna Rice Hughes she became a born again Christian. She is President & CEO of Enough is Enough and the author of “Kids Online: Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace.” Shame on Reitman & Co. for this inaccurate portrait of a woman who is still alive, and for not adding accurate information to the postscript of his movie, which does state the present status of Hart and his wife. Why not also tell the present status of Rice?

I don’t know why Reitman portrayed her as he did (although he is a liberal democrat, donating to people like Al Franken, and she’s apparently conservative), but it was unfair to her and not factual. If a film is dishonest about one aspect, how can it be trusted for anything else?

At the screening Reitman said Hart and his wife saw the film and were pleased with it, Hart asking, “Do I really talk like that?” He said he showed it to Rice but did not reveal what her response was.

Hugh Jackman gives a fine performance as Hart, but the person who really stood out for me was Vera Farmiga, who plays his wife, Lee. J.K. Simmons gives his usual outstanding performance, also.

The best part of the movie for me was a clip of Johnny Carson commenting on Gary Hart’s plight. Comparing watching Johnny with the late night guys today is like watching Babe Ruth hit and then having to watch Yasmani Grandal and his wild, generally fruitless swings.

This film was a true disappointment, an opportunity squandered.