By Travis Johnson
Well, this one must have been rushed into release…
Directed by Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air) and drawing on the non-fiction book All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid by Matt Bai, The Front Runner sees our Hugh Jackman as embattled 1988 presidential candidate Gary Hart, whose career was scuppered when he was rumbled for an extra-marital affair with Donna Rice (Sara Paxton). For a certain value of “scuppered”, of course – Obama and Kerry named him United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland in 2014, which is a hell of a golden parachute. It’s not like he was homeless.
Ahem.
In any case, as the synopsis tells us, the scandal is considered the moment when “…tabloid journalism and political journalism merged for the first time, Senator Hart was forced to drop out of the race – events that left a profound and lasting impact on American politics and the world stage.” Which, let’s face it, is an interesting tale to be telling in the foul year of our lord, 2018, when it seems no scandal, from rubber stamping au pairs to banging porn stars, is enough to dislodge an incumbent bastard from their perch.
The Americans are getting The Front Runner on November 6 – holy god, that’s the mid term elections, guys! Australia will have to wait two more Prime Ministers until it hits our screens on January 24, 2019.
