| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Movie Name | The Contender (2000) |
| Director | Rod Lurie |
| Writer | Rod Lurie |
| Lead Actor | Gary Oldman |
| Cast | Gary Oldman, Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges |
| Genre | Drama, Thriller |
| Release Date | October 13, 2000 (United States) |
| Duration | 2 hours 6 minutes |
| Budget | $20 million |
| Language | English |
| IMDB Rating | 6.9/10 |
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THE CONTENDER: Hollywood reaches for dramas built on prejudice against minorities (Jews, blacks, gays, disabled people). In this case, the victim is a woman senator, Laine Hanson (Joan Allen). She’s appointed to fill the unfinished term of a deceased vice president and thus become the familiar “heartbeat away” from leading the world’s most powerful nation.
Writer-director Rod Lurie wants to show misogyny at work in the confirmation hearings. They’re led by a sinister Midwestern congressman (Gary Oldman). He raises issues that, presumably, would never be used against a male (chiefly a college sorority sexual escapade, but also the circumstances of her marriage, the possibility of pregnancy in office, her pro choice views on abortion).
These tactics are likened to “Sexual McCarthyism.” Hanson’s primary virtue is that she refuses on principle to respond to questions about her personal life or to fight back in the usual way (by slinging mud at the chairman). We’re not sure until the very end, however, whether she’s stonewalling à la St. Thomas More or tactically covering up a lot of guilt.
Allen (Oscar-nominated for her role as Pat Nixon in Nixon) has depth and dignity. The movie is fine as long as it’s got fairness and equal rights as the main issue. But Lurie doesn’t so much win our sympathy for Hanson as assume it. We really don’t know much about her or whether she’d make a good veep or prez. She seems smart but doesn’t have to show it.
Hanson’s comments about religion make her a Joan of Arc for atheists, and she is forced to represent too many diverse causes.
In fact, nobody of either gender is likely to avoid sexual questions (by opponents or media) for some time to come. In its favor, The Contender heats up the brain cells, presents a ton of ideas many will be challenged by, and also adds some melodrama to politics. Jeff Bridges has a wonderful time as the calculating, folksy, food-loving president trying to make Hanson’s appointment a surprising twist to his last days in office. A political suspense likely to steam you, one way or another, ok for adults.
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