The Front Runner
Back in 1988, a U.S. senator named Gary Hart had the youthful looks, charm and the political cred to go all the way to the White House. Then his promising candidacy fizzled out. Perhaps it’s only fitting that his movie follows suit. Hugh Jackman plays the married Democrat, who, during a solo trip to Miami, mingles on a yacht with a comely blonde named Donna Rice (Sara Paxton). They hit it off, and an affair is born. After the press is tipped off, the campaign falls off a cliff. Though high-profile infidelity may seem like a news blip in 2018, director Jason Reitman makes it clear that Rice-gate was the birth of the political sex scandal. Yet his film still doesn’t quite probe at this issue in an insightful or even salacious way.