Laine Hanson: Joan Allen	Shelly Runyon: Gary Oldman
President Evans: Jeff Bridges	Congressman Webster: Christian Slater
FBI agent:	Rod Lurie:

30 Second Bottom Line: To fill the vacancy of the Vice President who died three weeks prior, senatorial confirmation hearings are held for the person who will potentially be the first woman VP at the White House. Her political enemies come out of the closet and show their sexual double standards.

Story Line: The film opens with Governor Jack Hathaway (William Petersen) fishing near a bridge when a car crashes into the water nearby and he jumps in to save the driver. Jack was the leading candidate to fill the VP slot before the accident. Because his heroic efforts are being lauded by the public and the press, his nomination to the Congress now looks like a sure thing.

President Evans (Jeff Bridges) meets with him and in less than 30 seconds says that he is the future of the party. However, because of political realities, which I won't share so as not to spoil your enjoyment of the film, he decides not to select the Governor.

Evans is in the waning months of his presidency and decides to leave a legacy by nominating the first woman vice president. Hathaway appears gracious in his rejection but when he arrives home and talks with his wife, she is bitterly disappointed because they have worked so hard for the next step in his political career.

Illinois Senator Shelly Runyon (Gary Oldman) is openly hostile to the appointment of Laine Hanson (Joan Allen) and makes it quite clear at a luncheon between the two of them. He even insists that she eat steak though she says she does not eat red meat.

As the Senate hearings proceed, Hanson is asked to defend allegations of her participation in a sex orgy while in college. She refuses to respond, to say yes or no, because her private life is private. Were a man being considered for the job, no one would care how many people he had slept with 25 years ago while in college.

Tell Me More About It: The bad guys are just about everyone but Senator Hanson, The President and a seemingly ditzy, but thoroughly capable FBI agent Willemena (Kathy Morris). The action of the men in both political parties is shameful, as they just don't get it. Their sexism far overshadows being liberal or conservative.

As the elected officials of both parties can only make plans for politically killing the other, they posture for political power. They make it clear that the needs of the people are a secondary consideration.

Congressman Webster (Christian Slater) is ambitious and apparently not politically savvy. He starts out as an enemy of Hanson and later becomes more supportive as he sees how Runyon is in no way objective regarding the confirmation hearings.

Toward the end of the film, things have stacked up against her winning as the cloud remains over her on the college sex scandal. She also admitted to an affair, which was called adultery, even though she was not married. She explained with some passion that "…love is an involuntary response". She must decide to voluntarily remove her name from consideration from the President or risk a disaster for her party if the Senate rejects her. President Evans makes a rousing speech at the end of the movie, which is quite inspirational, that results in a simplistic ending to a complex story.

The Contender has the potential power of The Insider but is not able to deliver even though the performance of Joan Allen is as good if not better than Russell Crowe. The events shown in this film from time to time stretch reality a bit much. Senator Runyon makes Jesse Helms look like a saint of open mindeness. While I disagree with Helms on many more things than I agree with, there is some consistency in his actions. Runyon is not only biased again women, but is so consistently morally corrupt that he hurts his own cause. A person in his leadership position is too slick to mistakenly spell out the name of the web site on public TV that has the dormitory sex pictures allegedly of Senator Hanson.

Laine's father remains a leader of influence with the Republicans even though she switched from the Republican Party to the Democrats. She has heard rumors that he will not support her and she seeks his endorsement. For a position of that magnitude, that entire scene seemed unbelievable and the key to this film is thinking that our politicians act as they are portrayed. What father would not want his daughter to be the Vice President?

Hanson appears to be the politician that we want but usually can't have….at least unless it's a far right or left politician. They speak what is really on their mind and some are ideological zealots who are not posturing solely for position. In her case, she makes it clear without straddling the middle that she is pro choice, supports using US troops to police the world from genocide, is an atheist, and considers the Supreme Court to be a bunch of right wingers doing great harm to the country.

Early in the film Jeff Bridges seemed to be the same character he was in Arlington Road, but more politically shrewd. By the end of the movie, I was starting to accept him as the President. Still, when you look at Clinton and the political wars he's had, we know those guys relish brass knuckle fights with the gloves off.

The Contender is a good film that had the potential for greatness had the insight been expanded beyond sexism. In The Insider , it showed depth by not only playing the power card of corporate greed, but how mergers in the media industry affect what we see and are told.

Joan Allen's performance was outstanding and insightful throughout the film. It's likely that like in Hurricane, alleged weaknesses in the movie will hurt her chances to either be nominated for or win best actress. Even when you sing a good song, it helps if you are doing so in a nice looking set of clothes.

Rod Lurie: Deterrence	Joan Allen: Pleasantville
Gary Oldman: Air Force One	Jeff Bridges: Arlington Road
Christian Slater: Hard Rain	Kathryn Morris: As Good As it Gets