REVIEW: 'The Front Runner'
Hugh Jackman plays a politican plagued by scandal during the 1980s
Can't get enough political scandals in 2019? Then you might like to revisit one that played out in America in the late 1980s. Watch the trailer for The Front Runner below.
After a few weeks of escalating panic and scandal in 1987, Senator Gary Hart (Hugh Jackman) threw away his chances of ever becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. He quit the race after the media published reports about his adulterous fling with Donna Rice (there were other revelations in the offing). This lively movie pretty much fights in Hart’s corner, setting up the argument that he’s a man of decency, principle and foresight – he’d have beaten Bill Clinton to building that bridge to the 21st century – chased into oblivion by grubby reporters.
Well, it’s one way of looking at it, even if at times Runner is like an obelisk of superior cheddar being swarmed by rats. Jackman doesn’t much resemble Hart, a handsome, flinty son of America’s Midwest, but he’s excellent in the role nevertheless. (Out now) 3 stars
