Former film journalist Lurie has crafted a White House potboiler
that's trenchant and tart for most of its length, but takes the easy way
out. It centres on vice-Presidential candidate Laine Hanson (Allen)
and the sleazy smear campaign waged against her by Shelly Runyon
(Oldman), the Republican head of the judiciary committee that has to
approve her nomination. Oldman publicly disowned the film for a
Democratic bias that materialised in post-production (and left
chunks of his performance on the cutting room floor). But that's less of
a problem than the whitewashed ending, caked with 'ennobling' music,
in which Bridges' President comes to the rescue, West Wing-style.
