The Front Runner
Columbia Pictures Corporation | Release Date: November 6, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 44 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
21
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
ObserverRex ReedNov 9, 2018
Brilliantly directed by Jason Reitman, from an intelligent, carefully researched and fast moving screenplay by Reitman, Jay Carson and Matt Bai (based on Bai’s marvelous book All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid), this enthralling film is a mirror to the shifting relationship between the media and politics, and the events that changed the last 30 years in American history. Read full review
100
Film ThreatAndy HowellSep 10, 2018
Every line of dialog, every camera angle, every beat is precisely engineered. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 19, 2018
The Front Runner doesn’t hit us over the head with parallels to today’s political and media world. It doesn’t have to. Read full review
88
The Associated PressMark KennedyNov 8, 2018
The Front Runner is appropriately paced like a thriller, as everyone involved gets pulled down into the drain, helplessly. Read full review
88
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiNov 6, 2018
Jackman’s turn doesn’t have an Oscars wow quality; nor does the movie itself. The script’s zingers can occasionally come off as store-brand “West Wing.” But it’s a fun, endlessly fascinating watch in which the big questions outweigh the tiny problem. Read full review
83
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodSep 1, 2018
Yes, Jackman’s impressive portrayal of Hart is at the center of “The Front Runner” (it’s one of the best performances of his career), but Reitman uses a large cast of characters to give depth to the events in question. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeJan 14, 2019
There’s a thrilling charge to the film-making. Jostling, overlapping dialogue feels lived rather than written. Read full review
80
EmpireDan JolinJan 7, 2019
A sharp-witted and wide-reaching account of a bright political hope’s fall from grace, with an impressive ensemble cast and a great performance from Jackman. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyBilge EbiriNov 8, 2018
It makes for an intriguing combination of tones and rhythms — urgency running up against paralysis — that speaks to the twisted dynamism of our political process, then and now. Read full review
80
Film Journal InternationalStephen Whitty Nov 6, 2018
The Front Runner works hard to accommodate all points of view. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranNov 6, 2018
Despite the potential for rancorous finger-pointing, one of the remarkable things about “The Front Runner” is its determination to be even-handed, to encourage viewers to make up their own minds (at least up to a point) about what happened 30 years ago and what it means for today. Read full review
80
Screen DailyAllan HunterSep 8, 2018
The Front Runner may cover a lot of ground and raise more questions about morality and the media than it can ever answer, but it remains a punchy, absorbing political drama. Read full review
80
The GuardianBenjamin LeeSep 8, 2018
There’s an authenticity underpinning the portrayal of events in The Front Runner that lifts it above the less-than-groundbreaking set-up. Read full review
75
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonNov 19, 2018
As played by Jackman, he's imperious, self-righteous, and humorless, and it's hard to imagine such a figure capturing the imagination of the public, policy acumen notwithstanding. The movie is better at showing Rice (Sara Paxton) as a woman trampled by the press stampede — ditto Hart's wife Lee, played elegantly by Farmiga. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayNov 14, 2018
Most confoundingly, it sheds no light on Hart himself: a man who steadfastly insisted on maintaining his privacy, whose impressive intellect was couched within an aloof, withholding persona, remains a cipher, the missing core of a movie that’s nominally about him, but can’t seem to get a bead on its own protagonist. Read full review
75
IGNRafael MotamayorSep 14, 2018
The Front Runner is too afraid to take a side in its central debate, but a strong ensemble cast and interesting ideas about accountability and newsworthiness make this a timely and thought-provoking film. Read full review
75
The Film StageJared MobarakSep 9, 2018
Reitman and company let actions do the talking for a good two-thirds of the runtime and it’s a true joy to experience. The actors have brilliant comic timing with one another and everyone feels as though they’ve been on the road to cultivate relationships built on respect. Read full review
70
TimeStephanie ZacharekNov 1, 2018
Astute and painfully relevant political comedy. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenNov 20, 2018
The Front Runner spends too much time involved in the glare of the situation rather than examining its intricacies or characters. Like many of Reitman’s films, particularly Men, Women & Children, The Front Runner is interested in the subject of privacy as mitigated by the TMI era. The character of Gary Hart, unfortunately, becomes only a means to this end. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldNov 29, 2018
Jason Reitman’s The Front Runner is so crowded with characters and overlapping conversations and crammed-full rooms that it’s easy to miss the quiet at its center: the enigma that is Gary Hart. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 23, 2018
Here, he’s made a good (not great) movie that’s not captured the interest of audiences or reviewers. Sure, he didn’t realize his “hero” was just one of its villains. And The Front Runner may not achieve its overreaching ambitions. But that’s appropriate, too. Neither did Gary Hart. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliNov 18, 2018
The Front Runner is a less a film for general movie-goers than for political junkies. Read full review
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