The Contender

THE CONTENDER

Rating: B
Joan Allen is a senator from Ohio nominated by Democratic President Jeff Bridges to fill the vacant Vice Presidential slot. Gary Oldman plays a Republican senator with a grudge against Bridges and a resentment of women in politics in general. Unfortunately, Oldman heads the Senate Judiciary Committee responsible for approving Allen's nomination. Even more unfortunately, Allen has an embarrassing sexual escapade in her past which comes to light during the confirmation hearings.

Several performances are noteworthy. Jeff Bridges is dead on as the President of the United States, playing a man whose self-deprecating humor arises from confidence in his own power. He's at home swearing with the boys in private, but at the same time he's uneasy about how history will view his presidency. Gary Oldman is thoroughly convincing as Joan Allen's constant tormentor. He's helped by the fact he seems to be eating in a large portion of his scenes. I personally think it's easier to be convincing if you're eating while you're acting, and Oldman must have gained about ten pounds by the time he was done with this role. Sam Elliott plays Bridges' righthand man with blustery panache - he does all the screaming so Bridges doesn't have to. Sort of like the first assistant director on a film shoot. Joan Allen also registers a very credible effort, although her role doesn't demand much more than being indignant in every scene. But she can play indignant with the best of them. Even Christian Slater, as an idealistic Congressman from Delaware, seems to have finally freed himself from his perpetual Jack Nicholson impersonation and become a serious actor.

Besides the great acting, another thing this film has going for it are the subtle nuances ingrained in many of the scenes. When Slater enters a room and grabs a seat, he first has to remove the notepad set there by another character. While he waits for Bridges in a room in the White House, he glances up at a portrait of John Kennedy with his arms folded and then notices his arms are in the same position. Even minor characters, such as FBI investigator Kathryn Morris, are infused with dialogue and mannerisms which help make their characters unique. Such attention to detail makes the whole movie experience a bit richer. The filmmakers were really trying here.

Unfortunately, there are two scenes which are so out of character with the rest of the film and ring so false that they practically ruin the movie. The first comes during Allen's grilling in front of the committee headed by Oldman. After withstanding a barrage of hostile questions, she launches into this sickeningly saccharine "what I believe" speech. As the camera slowly zooms in on her face, the background music swells up (not quite "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," but pretty damn close), and we realize writer/director Rod Lurie is not above resorting to cheap theatrics. The apologies from the tobacco industry seemed more genuine.

But the absolutely worst part of this movie is the ending. The film doesn't have the courage to play its own premise straight. Instead of following the plot to a logical conclusion (one way or another), an eleventh hour "alteration of the evidence" occurs. Instead of the audience deciding for itself whether Allen's sexual hijinks make her unfit to be Vice President, Lurie renders the whole question irrelevent. It's a very cowardly trick. Then in the final scene the background music swells up again, and this time its Bridges' turn to annoy us as he pontificates on truth, motherhood, and apple pie. Some movies are so good, it's a shame they have to end. This movie was so good, it's a shame it had to end like this.

I saw this film about a month prior to its release at an audience test screening. When the time came to fill out the survey form, I told them point blank that the ending sucked. Why didn't they listen to me, Ralph? Why, oh why, didn't they listen to me?