The Contender (Rod Lurie, 2000): USA

Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy.  Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

  Sunday February 14th the SBIFF honored Jeff Bridges, and designated it as Jeff Bridges Day.  It was a full days line-up at two theaters, with some of his best films including The Contender.

U. S. President Evans (Jeff Bridges) is in a position where he needs to select a new vice-president.  He has two candidates to choose from, one squeaky-clean Virginia Governor Jack Hathaway (William Petersen), or Ohio Senator Laine Hanson (Joan Allen) who carries a little baggage from her past.

Although Hathaway had recently been involved in a heroic rescue attempt of a drowning victim, President Evans chooses Hanson as the swan song of his presidency, by being the first to promote a female to high office.

Republican Congressman Shelley Runyon (Gary Oldman) chairs the committee for the confirmation hearings.  He does not believe that Hanson,a Republican turned Democrat, is the person best qualified for the job and sets out to prove it.  He indeed has acquired damaging photos of her, involved in a drunken orgy during her sorority days.

When questioned, Hanson refuses to answer on grounds that it’s not public business, and that if she were a man the story would not be as damaging.  Runyon is relentless in his questioning, and it is soon exposed that Hanson is also a husband stealer!  We also soon discover that Hathaway has a little dirt on himself as well.

The Contender is an entertaining political drama which earned two Oscar nominations – for Joan Allen as Best Actress, and Jeff Bridges as Best Supporting Actor.  Both are outstanding in their roles, but Gary Oldman shines and never disappoints.  This film is far superior to Rod Lurie’s  2008 stinker, Nothing But the Truth.