"I'm running for Senate to move things forward, not only for this great state of Louisiana, for this great country." Every time I tend to give Nicolas Cage yet another chance to prove to me why I admired him in the past. What a pleasure it was to see him at work in "Matchstick Men". How impressive he was with his unforgettable role in "Leaving Las Vegas". Admittedly, in the past there were also a few crappy films with him starring in it. Recent years he manages to participate in one failure after the other. Just look at "Ghost Rider", "Tokarev" and "Outcast". The only noticeable better movie between all these is "Joe" (although I still need to see it). The rest is just sad. That's why Cage looks more sad in each released movie. Just look at the cover of "The Runner". Those tired, tormented, sad eyes speak volumes."The Runner" isn't really such a movie that introduces the revival of Cage's film career. And yet I respect Cage for his courage to participate in a politically charged film like this. Because to be honest, politic isn't really an exciting topic to fill a feature film. Politic is boring, sometimes unworldly, incomprehensible and uninteresting to me. It's therefore not surprising that these are also the characteristics of this political drama. The title of the film is a bit misleading. It's not that Cage runs around to provide financial support for local fisheries. Nor that he swiftly runs from one lover to another. Or that it has a symbolic meaning when it comes to his flight out of alcoholism. It simply refers to the daily habit of Congressman Colin Price (Nicolas Cage), to put on a pair of running shoes every morning, so he can go jog a bit.It's all about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico where an explosion on an oil rig caused oil streaming into the sea for months. Southern states like Louisiana and Alabama were hit by this oil spill. Price is a congressman in Louisiana and he's concerned about the fate of the local fishermen and industries. In an emotional plea during an television interview, he draws attention to the economic consequences of this environmental disaster. At once he's the center of attention and his employees see this as an opportunity to let his political career grow. Unfortunately some surveillance recordings are revealed with compromising images of this congressman with an African American young lady in an elevator. Price is truly concerned about these fishermen because she's the wife of an African American fisherman. His political career hits rock bottom and before he knows it, he's looking again at the bottom of a whiskey bottle. Typical American. At least the man tries to do something for the hard-working working man and before you know it, the media comes up with some facts related to the man's private life.The only ray of light in this unnecessary film, filled with political drivel and unabashed corruption, is the magnificent acting by Peter Fonda. He plays Colin's father and he's also a former politician who has swum through difficult waters (oil-free in his case). He also has an enormous alcohol problem. The relationship between both hard-boiled politicians isn't so good. And you can say that's an understatement. There are some wonderful acting moments between father and son. But for the rest, this film is as dead as the fish in the oiled seawater. Apparently politicians are energetic. A trait this film really doesn't possess. Lets hope Cage looks a bit more cheerful in his next film !More reviews here : http://bit.ly/1KIdQMT

I found this movie on Netflix streaming. I watched it because I like Nic Cage and the story is set in and mostly filmed in New Orleans. It was home to me for a time and I always enjoy visiting it, even if the visit consists of scenes in a movie.Nicolas Cage is Colin Pryce, he is a US Congressman with a weakness. He has a strong sex drive and can't seem to resist a juicy affair. The story is set right after the massive BP blow out and oil spill in the Gulf in 2010. In addition to being a Congressman Pryce is an attorney and forms a group to work to achieve appropriate relief for the businessmen and fishermen damaged by the spill.This is a very mediocre movie, none of the characters are worth rooting for, and the restitution from BP isn't treated in any depth. So it really comes down to, do you like to see Nic Cage, and to a lesser extent, Peter Fonda who is good as his dad, a former politician. Connie Nielsen is also good as Colin's wife, Deborah Pryce, who treats him and his escapades much as we figure Hillary might have with Bill when he was in the news for all the wrong reasons. Not much here, I see it is the work of an inexperienced scriptwriter and it shows. You just can't make an excellent movie from a mediocre script.SPOILERS: When it comes to light that Colin was having an ongoing affair with a woman, a black woman, and the wife of one of the fishermen, he is pressured into resigning from Congress. He goes on to work for the people and Louisiana to get restitution and that good work makes him popular again. Meanwhile the Senator gets into a scandal so Colin decides to run for the Senate seat and wins.

With all the poor reviews from critics that I've seen on this film, plus its low rating on IMDb I was expecting very little here, so I was somewhat surprised that it turned out to be a reasonably decent watch. It does have many unlikable characters and it's not going to win feel-good movie of the year, but the acting is solid led by Cage and Sarah Paulson, and the story was engaging enough to keep my attention.Nicolas Cage can portray flawed characters as well as anyone, and he does so here as Colin Pryce, a Congressman from a Louisiana coastal district. He's from a family line of politicians, with his father (Peter Fonda) having been a revered Mayor of New Orleans years ago.After the disastrous 2010 BP oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico, Congressman Pryce's popularity soars after he gives impassioned testimony, on Capitol Hill, asking for help for the people in his constituency, and he's being seriously being considered as a Senate candidate for Louisiana.However, his extra-marital dalliance with a young woman is exposed in a closed circuit elevator video and, of course, ends up going viral on the net. Pryce decides to resign and ends up working as a pro bono attorney for citizen claimants against BP, and comes upon all the frustrations associated with bureaucracy and getting a large corporation to pay up. This will lead to Pryce's return to drinking after being sober for 16 years, as well as sparking divorce papers from his high powered and ambitious wife Deborah (Connie Nielsen).After some time has elapsed, Pryce will have to decide whether to "jump in bed" with the manipulative oil companies and re-enter the political world, or continue on the benevolent path he's been on. I might mention the very talented actress Sarah Paulson adds quite a lot to the movie, as a former consultant and friend of Pryce, and later a possible love interest.All in all, as some reviewers here have noted this film exceeded low expectations and became, in my opinion, a reasonably decent watch. I thought it was a good writing and directorial debut for Austin Stark, who's been a producer for a number of excellent films in the past.

An embarrassing video threatens the career of an idealistic Louisiana congressman who dreams of running for the Senate. After all, the video features him having a little bit of cheeky cheeky with a fishermans wife.But what makes this video the final twist of the knife, is the fact that the congressman is vying to his people to help fishermen and others who's careers are threatened by the 2010 BP oil spillage.....It's that age old problem isn't it? No matter how many people you try to help, no matter how much help you provide and how much you live up to your promises,someone's always got a bit of dirt on you, and your family. And it doesn't help that your dad had a similar problem when he was a congressmen....The film is literally a mix of Erin Brockovich meets one of those dodgy erotic thrillers that your dad used to rent from the video shop and keep at the back of the TV, and not as good that concept sounds.Cage reins his performance in for the most part of the film, which is always a negative, because all us true Cage fans love us a bit of mental, shouty Cage, so we still have evidence for the non-believers that there is some redeeming factors his films.So the film isn't terrible, it's quite interesting from the point of the actual story, but the narrative was done to death in the nineties, a sex scandal ruins someone's career. Whoop-De-Doo. If this was made in the nineties in the wake of David Mellor or Paddy Ashdown, and used a different environmental disaster as a backdrop, it would have been something of a success, and would have most definitely starred Michael Douglas.So it's a strange change of course for Cage, it's not a film you'd expect him to be in, but you have to pay your huge bills Nic don't you?Halfway through the film, Peter Fonda turns up and steals everything everybody does from then whenever he's on screen, and I've been waiting for this reunion since Ghost Rider.So the film consists of Cage talking importantly on stage, Cage talking importantly on TV. Scandal!!! A slap from Nielsen, Fonda, slight redemption, and then scouting along in civvies talking to the fisherman.So all in all, it's not a terrible movie, as said before it has a message, and some interesting facts, but for true Cage fans, it's like watching paint dry.