THE RUNNER (2015) **

After the devastation of the BP oil spill, Congressman Nic Cage makes a passionate speech to Congress that gains nationwide attention.  Using the momentum of the speech, he sets out to make real changes for his Louisiana fishing community.  Soon after, he gets embroiled in a sex scandal and is ultimately forced to resign.  Months later, he comes out of hiding and works as a pro bono lawyer to help fishermen affected by the spill.  He also begins an affair with his married publicist (Sarah Paulson), which could harm his future political chances.

The Runner is well-acted and earnest enough, although it’s hardly what you would call engrossing.  I mean it’s hard to really sympathize with Cage’s character.  It’s almost as if the sole audience for this thing was disgraced, alcoholic, sex-addicted Congressmen with marital problems.  That’s a very narrow market to capture, but I guarantee that if you’re a disgraced, alcoholic, sex-addicted Congressman, this will be right up your alley.  

Fans of Cage’s onscreen high jinx will no doubt be disappointed as he is much too subtle in this to make it memorable.  Even though he’s playing a character struggling with alcoholism, he never once reaches into his grab bag of Cagey tricks and achieves the same level of alcoholic antics of Leaving Las Vegas.  I’m not saying that a full-blown Cage performance could’ve saved this lackluster drama, but it definitely couldn’t have hurt.

The supporting cast is strong though.  Cage’s Ghost Rider co-star Peter Fonda has some good moments as his disgraced former politician father.  Fonda and Cage have enormous chemistry in their scenes together.  When you look at them bantering back and forth, you can almost see the movie The Runner wanted to be.  Connie Nielsen is solid as Cage’s long-suffering wife and Paulson is better than the film deserves as the new object of Cage’s affection.