Telluride at Dartmouth Film: "The Front Runner"
Hugh Jackman stars in this dark political comedy about Gary Hart’s abortive run for the presidency.
With Thank You For Smoking and Up in the Air, writer-director Jason Reitman displayed a rare gift for weaving charged political and social themes into intelligent and entertaining comedy-dramas. His latest takes on the 1988 tabloid scandal that derailed Gary Hart’s presidential campaign. Hugh Jackman is remarkably convincing as the senator who is perhaps too interested in ideas and policies to succeed in a changing media culture. Vera Farmiga and J.K. Simmons provide superb support as his wife and campaign manager. As 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. (US, 2018, 1h52m)
