'The Front Runner' Trailer: Hugh Jackman Kisses The White House Goodbye

While election season is heating up here in the United States, Hollywood is ready to capitalize on all the political hype with the release of the new true story drama The Front Runner, and the film couldn't be any more relevant if it tried. Now, a new international trailer has arrived just in time to make a push before Election Day.

The Front Runner follows Hugh Jackman as real life politician Gary Hart, a once-promising candidate for the presidency in 1988 who watched his campaign chances and entire career implode when word of a possible affair he had outside of marriage started making headlines. It was the first modern scandal of its kind in the political arena, and as The Front Runner trailer shows, it changed the landscape of politics forever.

Hugh Jackman looks to be putting in an award-worthy performance in The Front Runner, but it's probably a little too early to start making predictions like that. However, the early buzz out of the Venice Film Festival was that Jackman's performance was certainly one to keep an eye on, and the phrase "Oscar-worthy" was certainly thrown around a few times.

Our own Chris Evangelista caught The Front Runner at the Toronto International Film Festival, and while he found plenty to praise in the film, he did acknowledge that the film loses its way towards the end. He wrote in his review:

"The crackerjack script and dynamite performances are almost enough to get The Front Runner across the finish line, but there's something missing. Like Gary Hart's presidential campaign, it fizzles out just when it's just getting started, and the audience is left wondering just what happened."

It'll be interesting to see if this film has a clear stand on whether the political arena deserves the kind of scrutiny that has become commonplace where a marital affair can make or break a political campaign. Will they cast judgment on the press for shining such a bright light on what was once a non-issue or the politicians for being dishonest with their constituents? More than likely it will be both, but that may not be enough to wrap up a compelling story as this.

The Front Runner is directed by Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Young Adult) from a script he wrote with Jay Carson & Matt Baj, based on the latter's book, All the Truth is Out. The rest of the cast includes Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons, Alfred Molina, Molly Ephraim and Mamoudou Athie

Hugh Jackman stars as the charismatic politician Gary Hart for director Jason Reitman in the new thrilling drama The Front Runner. The film follows the rise and fall of Senator Hart, who captured the imagination of young voters and was considered the overwhelming front runner for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination when his campaign was sidelined by the story of an extramarital relationship with Donna Rice. As tabloid journalism and political journalism merged for the first time, Senator Hart was forced to drop out of the race – events that left a profound and lasting impact on American politics and the world stage.

The Front Runner opens in theaters on Election Day, November 6, 2018.