The Contender





I'm watching it right now, but I thought I'd make this thread now because I heard a hilarious line.

The President: You must be very proud of your mom.
Timothy Hanson (little boy): Yeah, being the Vice President is better than being the President.
The President: Ohhh... I'm sure you're right.
Timothy Hanson (little boy): Because no body wants to shoot the Vice President.

:laugh:

I'll give my grade when I'm done.

I liked this movie.

Joan Allen was very good and one of my favorite likable screen actors, Jeff Bridges, has a good supporting role.

A very, very good movie. Great performances by the whole cast. Especially by Joan Allen. Fantastic. Jeff Bridges was also great. The story was very impressive, as was the execution. Some memorable quotes in the movie, and some very powerful scenes.

B+

I liked this film a lot. It's a great political thriller. Joan Allen is excellent as always, she is such an underrated actress. Jeff Bridges is also very good here. I really liked the ending too, and the car scene in the river was quite cool. As Zing said it does have a lot of good one liners as well. It's also very educational. I learned a few new things about politics just by watching this film.

A

Fantastic movie. Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges and Gary Oldman were all superb here. A-

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Warning: may be some spoilers.

I am Canadian. Our exposure of politics doesn't come close to our American cousins so when the Prime Minister does something a little out of the ordinary, it makes the news for a couple of days and then it pretty much goes away. But we watch CNN and we keep abreast of what is happening in the USA. And one of the things that has always struck me as silly when it comes to the judging of politicians is when their personal life becomes just as important to the public as their politics does. The way I see it, the American public wants a person for president that just does not exist. They want someone who doesn't smoke, believes in God, goes to church, has never thought of committing adultery, has never had pre-marital sex, has never had a drink in their life, has never taken any sort of illegal drugs in their life, has never been tempted by anyone or anything to commit an indecent act, someone who never speeds, is in fantastic shape, listens to good Christian music, never curses, shouts, frowns and probably a president that never has to do number 2 in the bathroom. They want perfection in a person when no person can be perfect. If a president commits one act of impropriety, in anyone's eyes, then they are labeled unfit to serve. It's like the line in some movie who's title escapes me right now, that says, " I always wondered why if someone was a prostitute all of a sudden they can't see very well." American's want a seemingly perfect person when they themselves may be as imperfect as the next person, and that only stands to reason.

The Contender is a film that takes a stand. It takes a stand and takes it firmly.

Joan Allen, in an Oscar worthy performance, plays Lane Hanson, a state senator that is being nominated for the Vice Presidency after the former died in office. There are other politicians that feel that she should not be the V.P. and they will stop at nothing to prevent her from succeeding. It's not that her views and politics are diametric to what the others are, it's just that she is a woman. And it also turns out that she is a woman with a past.

Shelley Runyon, also an Oscar worthy performance by Gary Oldman, is the perpetrator behind the scheme to drag her name through the mud. It seems that Lane was privy to a party in her first year of university where she may have been involved in a gang bang. The pictures look like her and there are men that are coming forward to substantiate the story. It is here that her character is put on trial. We also learn that she slept with a married man, that she does not go to church and she does not believe in the Biblical God and she feels that church and school should be separate entities. And she believes in abortion. She is grilled by Runyon in hopes that she will crack and that her reputation is damaged enough so that the American people would never support a questionable character like this. But Lane will not comment on her personal life. She will not substantiate the claims of her alleged gang bang in college and the reason that she won't do so is because it is really no ones business.

The problem with this is that she has been recommended by the President of the United States, to succeed as the V.P. Now this makes the president and his advisers, particularly, Kermit Newman, played with delicious venomness by an unrecognizable Sam Elliot, also in an Oscar worthy performance, become questionable characters because they are the ones that are supporting her. To Lane's credit, she will not bow to pressure. Not from the public, not from Runyon, and not even from the President himself, to come forward and at least admit that she did the act. Lane vehemently maintains that her personal life should stay personal.

I will not spoil the film by telling you how it turns out. I won't even tell you how some of the situations play out. What I will say is that the film had a grip on me. It indoctrinated me with how it felt and what it believed. There are not many films that have the integrity and the guts to tell it like it is. The Contender does. It makes us open our eyes and ask ourselves why does it really matter if someone has questionable morals. If you commited adultery, would you be fired from your job? If you slept with 75 women or in this case, 75 men, before you got married, should you be labelled a slut and deemed not fit to serve? What does that have to do with how capable you are to run a country and keep it's beliefs and democracy safe? There is so much emphasis put on one's sexual appetite that we seem to forget that one has nothing to do with another.

The Contender has my vote as being one of the best films to come out so far this year. I would only put High Fidelity and Gladiator above it. But since those two pictures have zero chance of winning Oscars, I will say that this should be the leading Contender for Oscar.

10 out of 10- you will not find a better film this year.

Heh, Baumer, I liked how you mentioned how Gladiator at no chance at winning Oscars in your review. Heh. Isn't it funny to go back and read ages-old stuff?

Yep, I remeber writing this review and at the time, films like Gladiator were frowned upon by Hollywood as anything byt cash cows. I was just as shocked as anyone when a film released in May, was given best picture....so yes, it is funny to go back and read reviews from days gone by.

Other than the ending, I really enjoyed it as well. Joan Allen probably gave the strongest performance of her year, along with a great cast. I guess the theme of the movie would be along the lines of double standards in the media, or how politics are gender biased.

A-

Absolutely fantastic. I'd place it near my top 100. This has to be the most enthralling political thriller in quite some time. Very strong film - and please tell me WHY Bridges and Allen didn't take home trophies. Boo.

I know it was a great thriller, but does anyone else think the message of the movie was what made it great? The way she stuck by her principles?

I watched this again sometime recently. Joan Allen is really such a tremendous actress, I find it insane she hasn't won an Oscar yet.

This really is her picture - she hits it out of the ballpark. That is, of course, why it rocks my socks.

This, The Ice Storm... amazing films. Amazing Joan.

I agree. She should have won for this film.

I'm not sure about that (I still think Julia Roberts deserved her Oscar), but I find it laughable she wasn't even nominated for both Pleasantville and The Upside of Anger.

Terrific. Joan Allen and Jeff Bridges got well deserved Oscar nominations, but Gary Oldman was grat as well.

B+

Despite the great performances (especially Oldman - the guy is a fucking chameleon), it feels really heavy-handed and not subtle at all. This feeling stretches all the way from the opening credits - which are over-dramatic and not at all suiting the tone of the opening - to the final speech, which rips off The American President and (especially) The West Wing with its forceful liberalism and idealistic president. Considering how deftly scripted those aforementioned Sorkin works are, this one feels harsh and blunt and really poorly written. There's no quick, back-and-forth dialogue, there's no clever wordplay, and there's no ambiguous characters. Everything is black and white, good and evil, and it's rather boring. Perhaps I'm just unfairly comparing it to similar works, but I can't help it. This is not a smart film.

Man, I still dig this movie. Love the message, love the acting. It's flawed - sometimes heavy handed, visually meh - but still so, so solid.

The ending was a bit over-the-top, and the timing of its release (October 2000) is a little obivous. But it's still one of my favorite political movies. Joan Allen killed it.

The political favoring aside, this is a truly excellent film. Oldman, Bridges, and Allen are truly fantastic in this, and a very well thought out film. I loved Bridges President Evans, but this is Allen's film, and while she had only had bit roles at the time, she really commanded it. Erin Brockovich is still one of the few films I've never gotten around to seeing despite owning it. But Allen may have gotten robbed.

Solid A