THE LEADING MAN

THE LEADING MAN earns its three-star rating through an intriguing story and a superb screenplay. It examines how people justify sin when they believe the outcome will solve their problems. The film’s central scheme is cold and manipulative, and its characters pay a steep price for treating other people as tools.

The movie’s moral concerns are serious. It includes two adulterous affairs, implied fornication, explicit female full frontal nudity, profanity, obscenity, and alcohol use. Its humanist outlook also makes human reasoning, rather than God, the measure of right and wrong.

Adults who can engage these themes with discernment may find the film worthwhile. It is not appropriate for children or young teens. For discerning adults, WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY.

Playwright Felix Webb is struggling to manage the consequences of his affair with his leading actress while his wife, Elena, sinks into despair. His lead actor, Robin Grange, offers a shocking solution: he will begin an affair with Elena so that Felix can pursue the other woman without supposedly destroying his marriage.

Robin approaches the plan like a role to be studied and performed. Felix agrees, believing the end may justify the means. But the arrangement soon threatens to consume everyone involved.

Three stars means this is an interesting, effective drama with meaningful flaws. Director John Duigan benefits from Virginia Duigan’s superb screenplay, which carefully details Robin’s underhanded scheme and the ways the characters rationalize their behavior.

The film is strongest in how the story evolves and in the performances. Jon Bon Jovi brings considerable smarminess to Robin, while Alex Webb delightfully portrays Felix as a suffering artiste who has everything yet still wants more. The result is an intriguing morality play, though its explicit content limits its audience.

The source review identifies THE LEADING MAN as having a humanist worldview that depicts the wages of sin. The film examines morality in a “morally ambiguous time,” and Robin believes that human thinking alone distinguishes right from wrong. Felix also considers himself moral while pursuing adultery and accepting a scheme built on further betrayal.

The movie does recognize that sin carries a high price. Its characters use deception, adultery, and manipulation to pursue what they think they want, and the story shows their choices bringing suffering rather than peace. But the film’s moral framework remains human-centered rather than grounded in God’s authority.

The film’s central warning aligns with Scripture’s teaching that sin destroys rather than fulfills: “the way of the treacherous is their ruin” (Proverbs 13:15).

THE LEADING MAN is a thoughtful, well-acted morality play about the price of adultery and manipulation. Its explicit sexual content, nudity, profanity, and humanist worldview make it unsuitable for children and young teens. For discerning adults willing to engage its troubling themes, the answer is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY.