Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

The Contender

(2000)

What a script, and what a story! The writing is incredibly sharp, and the cast of Joan Allen, Gary Oldman, Jeff Bridges, and Christian Slater, has never been better. This movie shows just how dirty politics can be, in a way that has seldom been done so convincingly, and then drives the knife deeper into the back, and then twists it. And then … it goes all soft and mushy, sort of a Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington. Too bad, but the first hour and a half is worth the whole trip.