The Front Runner (2018)

My Review

“The Front Runner” is a political drama film about the rise and fall of presidential candidate Gary Hart in the 1988 Democratic primaries. Director Jason Reitman (“Ghostbusters: Afterlife” 2021) put together a decent drama with good writing and fair production values. He co-wrote the screenplay with Matt Bai and Jay Carson, based on Bai’s 2014 book “All the Truth is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid.”

The cast includes Hugh Jackson as Senator Hart, Vera Farmiga as Mrs. Hart, J. K. Simmons as the campaign manager, Sarah Paxton as Donna Rice, Alfred Molina as Ben Bradlee, Spencer Garrett as Bob Woodward, and Bill Burr as a Miami reporter. “The Front Runner” was a major box office bomb for Bron Studios, Columbia Pictures, and Sony Pictures Releasing. It was filmed in Georgia.