In 1988, Colorado Senator Gary Hart (Hugh Jackman) is the front runner for the democratic Presidential nomination. There are rumors about his marriage to Lee (Vera Farmiga). Washington Post junior reporter A.J. Parker is following the campaign. During an interview in a diner, Hart gets frustrated and challenges reporters to follow him to see his boring life. Unbeknownst to him, Miami Herald is already on the scent after getting a tip from the girlfriends of Donna Rice (Sara Paxton). Hart had met the beauty on a launch party thrown on the boat Monkey Business in Florida.

The first part of this movie is a meandering introduction of all the players. There is no real tension. It doesn't start until after forty minutes when Parker's interview elicited the key challenge from Hart. It's the moment the movie finds its central idea. It should have been done at the beginning and get to the challenge quickly. First, the 1984 flashback contributes nothing that an opening text couldn't deliver. In fact, Bill Dixon talks about a better introduction with Warren Beatty. That incident could introduce Hart and the issue which would engulf his legacy. Once the story gets going, it builds up a nice momentum. There are a few interesting choices like not concentrating on Donna for the first half of the movie. There are intriguing interactions. I would suggest someone uglier than Molly Ephraim to play her character although it's a great role. There is no one better than J.K. Simmons. Farmiga is great although Jackman is mostly a blank politician until the scandal breaks. Jason Reitman definitely has good directing skills but the movie needs to get to the scandal faster.

I wonder if Gary Hart looks at Bill Clinton and thinks why Clinton managed to survive all the allegations of womanising and Hart was blown off course.

The answer is Clinton was never photographed on a boat called 'Monkey Business.'

I never got the adulation that Hart got in the 1984 Democratic primaries. I also did not see anything charismatic about him. To me he was just another middle aged politician. Hart lost the primaries to Walter Mondale, but he made a strong enough showing to be a contender for the 1988 campaign.

Although the film is called The Front Runner. Hart was just a well known name in the field of potential Democratic contenders in the early summer of 1987 and the primaries would not start until early 1988.

Hugh Jackman plays Gary Hart. Whoever did Jackman's hair should had been fired. It looks nothing like Hart's bouffant.

Setting his sights for the 1988 Presidential Nomination. Hart gets a campaign team together but he never gets off first gear. Within a few weeks there are rumours that Hart as been seeing a young model called Donna Rice. One newspaper had sent journalists following Rice who may had spent the night together with Hart.

I have no idea why Jason Reitman thinks anyone wanted to see the story about Gary Hart. This is not a compelling story. Hart is from a long line of politicians who could not keep his zipper up.

Jackman never dazzles as Hart or captures the essence of the man. He comes across as maudlin and tired rather than a chancer.

Where the film succeeds is showing the workings of the campaign room by a strategist such as Bill Dixon (JK Simmons) or the journalists going about dealing with the sex scandal story and how it was done in the old days.

This is based on the true story of Senator Gary Hart's (Hugh Jackman) bid to run for president. He starts out as a charismatic man who attracts young follows by being able to cut through the BS with the correct off the cuff remarks. The Donna Rice (Sara Paxton) incident turned him into an arrogant man who couldn't field one question the way he rehearsed it, hesitating, showing weakness instead of attacking the reporter.

Hugh Jackman and J.K. Simmons had great performances, while the supporting cast had some soft spots. Alfred Molina as Ben Bradlee would not have been my first choice. What would have made the film interesting is if they showed Lee Atwater planning this whole thing as a subplot.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.