It was like she was being buried alive.
Political posturing rarely gets more personal or partisan than it does in Rod Lurie's 2000 film The Contender -- unless, of course, you're paying attention to the current presidential race. The Contender goes a wee bit further, though, by adding an unhealthy dollop of prurience to the proceedings as senator Joan Allen is made to run the gauntlet when second-term president Jeff Bridges picks her to fill the post of vice president after the current veep's sudden death. Her main obstacle: committee chairman Gary Oldman, who uses the confirmation hearings as a bully pulpit to smear Allen with gossip and innuendo simply because he can. What makes the whole thing maddening for Bridges and his staff is Allen's steadfast refusal to dignify the allegations with a response -- even when it would seem politically expedient to do so.
The supporting cast is filled with a number of familiar faces, including William Petersen as the popular governor who was a frontrunner for the nomination until an unfortunate accident left him dead in the water, Sam Elliott as Bridges's straight-shooting chief of staff, Saul Rubinek as his press secretary, Christian Slater as the junior senator from Delaware who would rather see Peterson get the job, Philip Baker Hall as Allen's father, a former governor who's still hurt because she changed parties, and Mariel Hemingway as someone from her past who surfaces in time to deliver some damning testimony. Throughout, Allen tries her level best to keep her cool and maintains the right to keep her private life out of the public sphere, and Bridges abides, effortlessly stealing every scene he's in and even some that he isn't. It's doubtful we'll ever have a president as cool as him, though.