Solid pieces
The inoffensive
Worthy but flawed
Reitman has never been a full-on comedy director, but through the years it seems the fun and comedy has been slowly disappearing from his films. Tully is still booked as a comedy/drama, but I have to wonder if that it's just based on Reitman's profile or whether there's some sly comedy I simply didn't catch.
Marlo struggles with her responsibilities as a mom. She has two kids and a third one the way, her husband isn't helping much around the house and her oldest is having troubles in school. Marlo is at the end of her wits, but things change when she hires Tully, a night nanny who helps her out so she can get a decent rest.
It's not the most imaginative setting and even though Theron does her best, she'll still somewhat of a miscast. Once Davis hits the screen things get a little better, but some silly twists and questionably executed scenes in the second part don't do the film any good. Not a terrible film, just rather mediocre.
Dubious filler
Disappointing political drama by Reitman. Unless you're interested in the history of US politics and its minor anecdotes, there just isn't a lot here. While the film appears to be framed around the mediatization of politics, Reitman prefers to stick to Hart's story, which pushes all the interesting bits to the background.
Hart was well on his way to become the Democratic presidential candidate that would run against Bush, but his extramarital missteps would sink this opportunity once the press started reporting on it. Apparently this was somewhat of a turning point in American politics, before that time the press was known to grant politicians a bit more privacy.
Reitman used to be quite sharp and witty, sadly The Front Runner is little more than a decent and safe political drama. Performances are decent and Reitman does a solid job recreating the 80s, but the plot is dull, the cinematography and score are uninspired and the themes are underdeveloped. Very forgettable.
