A couple of years ago the nation and the world watched as President Clinton faced impeachment charges, and by the end of
the whole ordeal, they were bored out of their minds. So why would anyone be compelled to make a movie that deals with a high office politician being caught up in a sex scandal? Well, there are a lot of reasons mainly...
The Contender wants to show just how blatantly silly the whole involvement of a personal past in modern politics is. Obviously, the movie is fairly liberal, so Republicans might find themselves on Gary Oldman''s side, whom tries his best to crush the contending Vice Presidential candidate Laine Hanson (Joan Allen). Still, whether Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, the movie makes a good point as to how far into people''s lives the public has the right to hear.
The Contender has a good plot. The movie isn''t as black and white as the previews make it out to be; it isn''t about choosing the good man for the job; it is about choosing the lesser of evils for the job. Every politician in the movie, whether it be the President (Jeff Bridges) or Senator Hathaway (William Petersen), is manipulative and cunning at the same time. Laine Hanson, the protagonist of the film, is very upstanding with her morals, except for that she did do some pretty naughty things when she was younger.