Joan of Art

JOAN ALLEN HEATS UP IN THE CONTENDER

wash in liberal righteousness, The Contender is a drama about sexual hypocrisy and politics that appears to have been made for the sole purpose of prompting a screening-room ovation from Rob Reiner. The reason for anyone else to care is Joan Allen, who, after a series of repressed roles in films such as Nixon and The Ice Storm, here plays a smart, confident, and comfortably sexual woman—and shows she has a star's charisma to go with her usual mere brilliance. That her character is a vice-presidential nominee, of all dreary things, only heightens one's awe. In a more showy role, Gary Oldman, hidden behind bad suits and a bald cap, amuses and repels cunningly as an evil right-wing straw man. (Ratings: Joan, ★★★★ Gary, ★★★!/' The rest of the movie, ★★)

B.H.