The Contender (DVD)

This one is basically West Wing the movie. Though it doesn’t take anything away from the experience if you haven’t been following the multi award winning presidential drama on Channel Four. As with the excellent American drama, it concentrates on the team around the US administration and how they keep their man in power. This film deals with the lead up, and eventual democratic nomination for vice president. The party’s choice is Senator Hathaway, a solid democrat with all the right credentials. But the boss, president Jeff Bridges wants a lady as his second, and he wont take no for an answer, whatever skeletons may be rattling in her ...

Politics has long been a good grounding for decent films. Most of them use some sort of scandal as a basis upon which to build. The Contender is no different and when you look at the cast involved it?s no wonder that it?s a solid thriller. Joan Allen plays Laine Hanson, a senator who has been selected by the president (Jeff Bridges) to be his vice president nomination after the death of the previous. However there are those in political circles who are against it and soon Hanson is the subject of a lurid sex scandal that puts her under pressure. Should she decline the nomination or should she just refuse to comment on the allegations and let the public decide? ...

The Contender was released in the US in October, giving audiences a month to enjoy this tale of political intrigue in the build up to the Presidential election. The marketing people did not figure on Foot and Mouth having an effect on the UK release! It is still slated for general release in April, but they need lose no sleep over UK audiences not watching just because elections here are a moveable feast. This is a very American tale of back stabbing and maneuvering. The story revolves around the appointment of a Vice President to a sitting Commander In Chief. A little dull constitutional information is useful here. If a veep dies in office, he has ...