I’m far too cynical about politics to have really enjoyed The Contender but outstanding performances and interesting ethical questions made the film well worth seeing.

Laine Hanson (Joan Allen) is nominated to become the first female Vice President of the United States. Shelly Runyon (Gary Oldman in an astounding performance) sets out to gut her nomination and get another contender elected. Runyon heads a powerful congressional committee Runyon’s main reason for getting rid of Hanson seems to be his obsessive hatred of women in power.

The spooks dig up the dirt. Graphic evidence Hanson having sex with a number of men at a party during her college days are proffered for the world to see but Hanson digs her feet in. She refuses to comment claiming that this is her business alone and that the questions shouldn’t even have been asked.

Feminism is very much at issue. "There's one thing you don't want, and that's a woman with her finger on the button who isn't getting laid." She states away from the cameras that if she had been male and had had sex with a number of women she might have been congratulated. "If I were a man, nobody would care how many sex partners I had in college."

The Contender was released in the U.S. while the Presidential Elections were in full swing last year and while Clinton’s mess was still fresh in the American public’s mind.

It was written and directed by the very politically interested Rod Lurie and it certainly raises pertinent questions about the double standards with which women have to contend.

It falls away in its final reel when the President, played by Jeff Bridges, launches into one of those rousing speeches about how wonderfully democratic and fair America is to its citizens, sentiments that would make most clear thinking citizens of the world retch. America no doubt is wondrous in many ways but it’s not nearly as wonderful as such swelling sentiments would have us believe.

Gary Oldman is as always a baddy and is here superb enough to be almost unrecognisable. He’s hidden beneath an ugly bald wig and a mealy mouth. He’s fascinating. Joan Allen is as enigmatic as you'd expect a canny politician under siege would be.

There are glimpses of Hanson getting about more normal political business and Allen gives this woman a dignified intelligence that we’d hope for from all of the Hanson politicians on the planet.

But I’m afraid that Jeff Bridges will always remain Starman for me. He’s a bit fish like with those gaping lips, a bit alien; an ideal actor to play a President.

There are many telling moments in The Contender, and one really surprising twist, but a favourite scene for me will remain the one where Hanson has been given some devastating ammunition to use against Runyon. I urge you to see The Contender to see whether she fires that particular canon.

4 Hanson Flys