"Principles only matter if you apply them when inconvenient." -- Senator Laine Hanson talking to the President.

Every year I know that fall has truly arrived when the quality of the movies coming out rises dramatically.  The Contender will go down as the year 2000 marker of the arrival of fall.  It has raised the quality standard for movies much higher.  Perhaps too high to have been released this early in the year.  

Writer/director Rod Lurie hits the bullseye in his second film, a 'vehicle' that he wrote for Joan Allen (Pleasantville, Nixon).  She is United States Senator Laine Hanson, and she becomes the nominee of President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges) to fill the vacant office of Vice President.  The selection of Senator Hanson comes as a surprise to many, including Governor Jack Hathaway.  Hathaway (William L. Peterson) just made headlines as a hero for trying to save the life of a woman whose car plunged into the river the governor just happens to be fishing in.  

Unfortunately for President Evans and Vice-President designate Hanson, the advise and consent review of the nomination will be done by the House, rather than the Senate.  That means that the committee chaired by Shelly Runyon (Gary Oldman).  Congressman Runyon despises Hanson for being a turncoat (she recently switched political parties) and arbitrarily decided that she lacks the "potential of greatness" one needs to be only a heartbeat away from the presidency.  Congressman Runyon will make the confirmation of Senator Hanson as difficult as he can within his powers as committee chair.

Usually directors who have written the script aren't the best at extracting the finest performances from their actors.  They seem so focused on translating their written vision into the visual language of film that they just don't fully engage their casts.   Happily, Lurie is an exception as the terrific cast of Contender really gets an opportunity to show off their talents.

Aside from Ms Allen and Mr. Oldman, both worth of Oscar notice for their work in Contender, Sam Elliott, Saul Rubinek and Mariel Hemingway deliver top-notch performances.  Lurie himself appears on screen twice, but only audibly, as a talk-show caller and later as a radio journalist.  Normally I would object to using the same voice twice in a movie as different characters, but only someone like me who was a big fan of his old talk show about movie criticism would ever know.  

The Contender isn't just a quick shot at a post-Monicagate type of exploitation movie.  It is well thought out, not afraid to take a position on several critical issues and if a bit preachy in places, does so from a sense of commitment to ideals rather than just throwing moralizing at us.