The Front Runner doesnât really know what to make of Gary Hart. Thatâs to the movieâs credit, I thinkâthe Colorado senator who made a bid for the presidency in 1987 is neither hailed as a mistreated, martyred political genius nor condemned as a sleazebag whom the press caught cheating on his wife.
Played by Hugh Jackman, Hart is just kind of a blank slate, so director Jason Reitman focuses on the campaign staffers and journalists who surround him, by way of impressively staged Altmanesque tracking shots with overlapping dialogue.
The large, great cast makes The Front Runner worth watchingâMamoudou Athie as the Washington Postâs A.J. Parker and Steve Zissis as the Miami Heraldâs Tom Fielder are especially goodâso long as you ignore the movieâs promotional campaign that insists Hartâs downfall was the moment American history changed forever, marking the precise instant politics devolved into tabloid sensationalism.
Now thatâs a bullshit headline.