Home Show The Front Runner

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Welcome. My name is Rob, I am the executive producer of the Clubhouse Podcast,
and I am not a crook.
To my Nixon's dead-on. Joining me in the co-host chair is the newest member of the cast,
and a man that his electric bills are very high because he has a thousand points of light in his home.
He is Alex. Welcome, sir. I'm just wondering if that makes me agnew.
No, I would never put you through that. Okay, just check it.
Whenever we do one of these things, it is to review something.
This is no exception. Jason Wrightman is back, and he's directing the huge Axeman
in the front runner. Before we get rolling, we want to say thank you to our friends at Fonz PR.
A, we love our vendors. They take care of us and they let us see movies ahead of time,
so we can talk to you guys about them, and you can make the best decisions you can with your
entertainment dollar. So those of you that are that are a little old school like me, you probably
remember this story. This is based on the story of Gary Hart in the 1988 presidential election. He
was a democratic nominee, and it's called the front runner because at that time he was the guy to
beat. Okay. 84 did not go well for him, but he came back strong in 88. This takes place,
sorry about that, over a three week period. And what I thought was really cool was as they reveal
the title card. It's about five minutes in, so there's a bit of a cold opening for it. Okay.
Okay. It says in 1988, Gary Hart was set to be the democratic nominee for the, for the
president of the United States. Okay. So those of us that are a little bit behind, he never
actually ran for president. He didn't get the nomination. He was close enough. He was running.
The campaign was going. And then it said a lot can happen in three weeks. Fair. And it did.
So Gary Hart played by the great Hugh Jackman and his wife Lee played by Vera Farminga.
This thing's got a stout cast. Oh, I was looking through the list. It's huge.
Runs right at two hours. Okay. He goes on a private yacht cruise to Bimini,
love Bimini, where he meets a young lady by the name of Donna Rice and let it be known
that the young lady playing Donna Rice in this Sarah Paxton was born the year this happened.
So let that settle in for a minute. Where maybe they get a little cozy.
And he is doing an interview with the Washington Post where he's asked about some of his
possible past. At one point, he was separated from his wife. And he says to this reporter,
you know what? Why don't you just go around and follow me? You'd be really bored.
Uh-oh. Cut to the Miami Herald, where a reporter named Tom Feather, paid by Steve ZC,
I think that's it. Z-I-S-S-I-S. It's a call from a girl who was on the boat that says,
hey, I know he's scheduled to go to the Kentucky Derby this weekend. He's not. He's going to
D.C. to be with my friend. Oh, wow. And he's like, whatever lady you don't want to say what
your name is, she goes, how much do you pay for pictures? Uh-oh. He's like, don't play with me.
He hangs up on her. Well, he winds up getting a story on the wire that says,
heart's not going to Kentucky this weekend. He's going to get some rest in D.C.
Some quote unquote rest. So he and a couple of other guys go to D.C. themselves, confront Gary
Hart and the ball gets rolling. And a lot of people see this as a turning point from a journalistic
standpoint, because this is really where media circuses truly became a thing as it pertains
to politics. Interesting. This is where things just got out of control from a press standpoint.
Now, by out of control, you mean invasion of privacy level? Not necessarily, because it's
interesting how Hart spins it. These guys were in my bushes and assaulted me. It's like, no,
they were parked in a car staking you out from across the street. Let me go down some of the
some of the cast in this. And you could go for an hour just reading the cast. His top advisor,
played by the great JK Simmons. Fantastic. You've got, uh, Katelyn Deever,
Up in Comer, playing his daughter. You've got, can I interest you in one Alfred Malena?
Always plays one of the editors at the Washington Post. Uh, you've got Ari Granger.
She's one of those comedic actresses that you've seen in a ton of things. She actually,
she's hilarious. She played the lead in the attempted television version of bad teacher.
She plays one of the reporters at the Washington Post. Uh, can I interest you in one Bill Burr?
The super intelligent and funny Bill Burr. He is one of the reporters from the Miami Herald
that goes on the stage. Of course he would. For the air. And who plays his boss, but the great Kevin
Pollock is in this as well. Mike Judge has a role in this. I did see that.
This thing is packed to the gills with talent because the thing is they tell the story from
the aspect of his campaign people and then the aspect of the newspaper people and it's
so it's it's not singularly focused as far as the directive from the camera. But that's kind
of the downfall of it for me too. Okay. This is a good film. It's not a great film.
Now, Jackman, when I look at him, when I looked at him at the poster and I was like, man,
but then I looked up a picture of Gary Hart and there are some strong resemblances between them.
So it's one of those for somebody who doesn't know it looks like they didn't do much and then you
realize that they didn't have to let me show you. I know this is an audio medium, but let me show
you. Well, to fill into that, I was surprised that when you were bringing up, uh,
look at this picture from Wikipedia of Gary Hart. Yeah, that's pretty close.
I was surprised. There's no prosthetics or extra makeup. They mean, of course, they do the hair.
But it's a strong resemblance. Yes. Yeah, I especially with the hair. I was surprised
you didn't bring up with Ari Grainer. The more recent big one was that she was in the disaster artist.
Yes. She played Lisa. Lisa, you're tearing me apart. Oh, hi, Mark. Uh,
but again, this is a good film. It's not a great film and because a lot of it, it does weigh
itself down in a couple of places. Okay. I don't know that I needed as much from the
newspaper offices that I got. I was more interested in what was happening in the field at the time
versus what was happening in the boardroom. Do you think there was a part of that, though,
that there were like, let's just go with what we know is true or they were doing that to kind of
give the legitimacy to what was going on at the paper? Okay. The other thing is, and this is going
to sound very weird. But I feel like Donna Rice's side of this wasn't portrayed as deeply as I
would like to have seen it as deeply or as well. They don't really go into it. They mentioned that
she was a model and that she was, she graduated magna cum laude in college. Nothing to sneeze at.
Right. But they don't, I mean, and they mention like what this ends up, it's mentioned in conversation
of how this affects her, but there's no follow-up. There's very little follow-up at the end of the film.
There's one card, there's one, one card that talks about one thing and then role credits.
And I assume it's the titular character. Yes, but I don't want to go. I don't want to say that.
But people I don't know the story, I don't want to go into this on air. But I never really,
and I love Vera Farmica. I think she's an amazing actress, but I never really bought her. Like,
she never disappeared into the role for me. It's always Vera Farmica. Jackman does a great
American accent. We all know it. He doesn't try to portray heart as a sympathetic character,
but he tries to portray him as someone who's passionate and stands his ground. Because he believes
that the press shouldn't have the right to infiltrate his personal life like they do.
Now, are you saying that from the aspect of Jackman believes that?
No, from the character. From the character of the character. Because Gary Hart really
believes this is not your business. This is not going to affect the way I run the country,
which is a fair argument. There are two sides to that argument. I wouldn't call this
like a political thriller because you know where this is going. If not, crack a book.
Go to Wikipedia. It'll tell you everything you need to know. But this is a really good film.
It's just not a great film. I mean, when you look at the pantheon of Jason Reitman as a director,
I mean, you're looking at Tully. You're looking at young adult up in the air. He did two episodes
of the office. I mean, the guy does great work. I just don't know that this is going to be
in the metal round of his work at the end of it all.
Yeah. I'm going through his list. Actually, the two big ones that stand out for me would be
thank you for smoking in Juneau. Yeah. And Tully. Tully is a great film too.
To be fair, I haven't seen it. But what I wonder is how he didn't direct Juneau.
He produced Juneau. Oh, my apologies. Yeah. But having worked on thank you for smoking,
no, he's listed as the director of Juneau. Do you have a clue you wrote it or that she wrote it
directed it? I could be wrong there. Anyways, getting sidetracked. I wonder if the experience he got
from shooting with thank you for smoking, which based around lobbyist and political might have
spiked that. You are correct. He did direct both of those. I thought that I know Diablo Cody wrote
Juneau. I didn't think so. I thought she directed it, but I was wrong. But yes. There is a database
for this. Right. I actually was looking in the wrong place on the page. But with thank you for
smoking having that political aspect, if you haven't seen it. Great film. Great film. I wonder if
that kind of transitions into some of what was shot with the front runner. It could be, but again,
this was based in fact, where thank you for smoking is not. It's based on dramatization.
This film, again, I don't know that it taught me anything. Okay. But it was an interesting portrayal
of events. And it was a good look at why political candidates have so many people in their
employee. Interesting. Because you get to watch them try to spin. So what you're saying is this
is actually a story, not a biography. No, it's definitely not a biography. Okay. Because it takes
place over three weeks. Right. Now week three takes the last 40 minutes of the film. Like week three is
where wheels off. Things hit fans. Yes. But I still think I would have liked to have seen more
from it. Okay. The last act seems very rushed to me. It's still, again, it's still a great film.
I'm going to say great film. It's a good film. Amazing cast. People that you go like, yeah,
I expect greatness from that person. You put, put JK Simmons in a chair. I'm going to read the
phone book. It's probably going to get nominated for an Oscar. Or would it at least be in consideration?
Exactly. You know, and again, this is full of people that like most people, oh, I know like
Bill Burr, Kevin Pollock, like you know who these people are. But I wouldn't call this an
ensemble piece either because in most cases, they don't really cross paths as much as they could.
Now, there's a great scene where everything's coming out. And this takes place two days after
the Miami Herald prints their story where hard is at a press dinner. And Pollock's character who
is the editor of the Miami Herald is sitting three people to his right. And he decides he's just
going to address this right off the bat in his speech. The exchange move on Mike. Yeah.
The exchange that he and Pollock have is very, very good. Well, between those two, they could
make anything work. I'm a firm believer. And it's a strong scene. And if I were somebody that
were trying to put Jackman up for an award, that would be the scene I use. That's your thesis
statement because that's there's an intensity to that. That I don't know that he matches in
the rest of the film. There's a couple of moments where you see him get emotional. But that
seemed to me as the penultimate scene for him in that role. Do you feel like there was a build
to that though? Like, okay, allow me to put it this way. Do you feel like the character not giving
that at other times was more long lines of I'm still a politician. Politicians must be reserved.
And then it builds to the boil over. There's never a boil. Okay. It's sharp. Interesting. Very
sir, I despise you. Hmm. Is the tone that I'm going to stay calm, cool, and collected. But
this whole entire room is going to understand what a slime ball I think you are. Interesting.
And it was also interesting for me to watch once the report is published,
watching how all of the other reporters interacted with the people from the Miami Herald,
almost shunning them at a certain point. Interesting. But then they themselves end up getting caught
up in it because then it turns into, well, if we don't print it, the New York Post will or the
Miami Herald will. And then they're going to beat us to this story. So now where journalism starts
to become more sensationalized, the more tabloid and a lot of people could point to this as the
turning point from mainstream media who up to this point would thumb their nose at the gossip
columns. Not going to lie, I wish we still did. Well, personal opinion. But a lot of people would
point to this story as the turning point for that. Because you as the story progresses,
you're watching something like the Washington Post go from we would never do something like that to
well, we kind of have to now. Right. And it turns into this almost a game of chicken.
Because the Miami Herald gets a hold of it first. And it turns into Bill Burst character and
ZC's character, along with a photographer, basically confronting him in an alley.
Oh, wow. And just just barrage him with questions. And he stands there and he answers the questions
where I sat there and I'm like, just go in the house. Just go in the house. Save yourself. And
watching as JK Simmons's character is talking to Donna Rice and trying to figure out this mess
and how they can spin it. And also, wait, wait, wait, just quick back up. JK Simmons who plays
Gary Hart's advisor. Is this trying to work with Donna Rice? Because he's trying to get the
story together. Okay. That just took a turn that I didn't anticipate. And there's also a really
strong performance. There's also a couple of people from Holden Ketch Fire in this,
which I'm a huge fan of. One of them being Molly Efram. She has a very strong performance in
this as another member of the campaign who kind of feels torn at a certain point. Interesting.
It's her portrayal is really, really strong in this. But again, good movie, not a great movie.
Anything else you want to get to before we get to the final analysis? I'm actually just the reason
I was saying that I really wanted to be on this episode, which you're always welcome to,
which is part of the reason I am the demographic behind this. Now, this happening, I did not know
it was a true story until you told me. Really? I just didn't know. Well, I was four. I'm not saying
that you would have remembered it, but I figured all of the promotion for it would have told you
at some point. Well, no, no. I do love the poster of the Greyhound Bus going off the cliff.
I love that poster for the film because it really does say a lot. Well, I will say that you told me
before I saw any promotion for the film. Oh, really? Okay. You beat it to the punch. Let me put it
that way. Yes, it is in there. But at the same time, just from a life experience aspect, I was too
young to know about any of this going on. And even if it had come on the news, it's based on,
you know, material. I'm pretty sure, you know, if it was somebody other than my father going,
oh, no, no, no, just adult stuff. You don't need to know about it. Whereas if it was my uncle,
it was like, yeah, he got some. I mean, I think that you would find this story very interesting
because you'll see elements to this that are still relevant now and it's been 30 years.
Well, that's part of the reason why I'm really excited, along with the buzz that may not
agree with you entirely, saying that there is some statue buzz for this. I wouldn't be shocked,
but I wouldn't, if I were a voter and I'm always open to this, if the Academy wants to send me
about it, I'm not sure that it would be on my radar. Again, good film, not a great film.
In a different year, maybe a better shot. But as of every year, the field gets thicker and thicker
and through, this is one of those years where I think a lot of people, when we do our year-end
lists, that for Sunday and January, live at Vogel now, I think a lot of people are going to be
a little taken aback of what's in my top 10 and what's not. Because I tend to not listen to what
other people are, I mean, there's people that have movies in their top 10 right now, but I'm going,
I'm on the other side of that spectrum, homie. I mean, at least one of them.
And because we pride ourselves on this show that yes, we do evaluate film, but that we like to
evaluate it from the normal guy's point of view. Now, I'm a fan of film, but I'm not somebody who's
going to break something down seen by scene. And oh, yes, this movie's amazing. You really need to,
you know, pass the V, she's swell. I'm not that guy. No, we can appreciate the art, but we're talking
from the aspect of should you see this? Is it worth it? Right. Speaking of which, let's do the
file analysis. All right. The way we do the file analysis on the show, we're not going to give you
thumbs up, thumbs down. We're not going to give you a letter, grades, numbers, voting booths,
anything like that. Here's how it works. To up to two questions, question number one is,
what I see this film again? If the answer's no, then we're done here. But if the answer's yes,
it'd be how far am I willing to go to see it. Best of the best of the worst of the best here,
is how it works. First one at the theater, down to a twilight showing, down to a matinee showing,
down to early morning on a weekend, down to second one at the dollar theater, down to leaving
my house from red box, down to streaming it on Netflix, down to cable. Now Rob, I want you to
think of yourself walking into this voting booth. Are you hitting yes on the front runner?
Or no, do I get to pull the lever or do I have to do the bubble thing? Or do I get, do I get a
touch screen? Use your imagination. I would see this again. Now, how far are you willing to go?
I cannot, in good conscience, give this thing any higher than a matinee showing.
Because again, it does bog itself down in a few places.
And nothing really grabbed me in this. Nothing really, like, you must sit here, like nothing
captured my attention enough, because I think certain things were, were breeze through,
while other things had more detail than it should have. That's what keeps it from getting higher,
ranking them for me. I have a side question though. Do you think that the things that
it breeze through for you might not affect somebody else, and they may have a higher opinion?
I would think to those uneducated by the story, I would recommend it, but I can't say payful
price for it. I just can't. And there's nothing about it that screams, see it in iMacs, or Dolby,
or anything like that. This is not that kind of film. It doesn't seem so. Go check it out in
a Saturday afternoon, but here's my other issue with when you're releasing this film. Okay.
The average American is so midterm election out, burnt, that a political film may not do as well.
And a friend of the show, James Faust, because the Dell's Film Society was helping sponsor
this screening. His opening line is he was introducing the film was ready for more politics.
And we love James Faust. He's an amazing human, but he's right. And I think that might work against
this film to some people. I would say don't go see this despite of you maybe having election burnout,
because it's not about an election. It's just a story of intrigue and it still holds
relevance. There's elements of this story that made me go, yeah, this is still a thing. Yep,
30 years later. It is Jason Reitman directing the frontrunner. And again, we want to thank everybody
over at Faust PR. Hey, we love our vendors. They take care of us so much. They let us see movies.
So we can talk to you guys about them. So you can spend your entertainment dollar properly. That
being said, let's do the plugs. Visit our website. You can find my written review at
is www.theclubhousepodcast.com. Find out everything you need to know and some stuff you don't. Follow us
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So until next time for Alex in the empire, I'm Rob. Clubhouse is closed.
Plenty of room for Brittany and Paul are in this. She could be who put her in one big role.
So she gets down.