In Theaters

THE CONTENDER 130 minutes, R, written and directed by Rod Lurie.

Sex, lies and politics – they all boil together beautifully in Rod Lurie’s “The Contender,” a surprisingly strong political drama that understands the rhetoric of Washington, knows the dirty secrets of its players and uses its excellent cast to infuse the action and quick-fire pace with the sleaze of a proposed youthful indiscretion.

Obviously taking its cues from President Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky and his ensuing impeachment, the film asks an important question – is a politician’s sex life the public’s business?

Wisely removing itself from real life, “The Contender” poses that question not around its president, Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges), but around Laine Hanson (Joan Allen), a senator from Ohio asked by Evans to be his vice president after the former vice president dies in office.

Smart, savvy and the daughter of a governor, Laine seems to have it all to become the United States’ first female vice president – respect from her colleagues, admiration from the nation, a solid marriage, a cute 6-year-old son, and a firm stand on the issues.

But when an old political foe of Evans, the indefatigable right-wing congressman Shelly Runyon (Gary Oldman), learns of an orgy Laine may have participated in while in college, he decides to go after her in a brutal effort to further his career, destroy Laine’s life and with it, the president’s legacy.

But as Laine is grilled under oath by Runyon before the House Judiciary Committee hearings, it becomes clear that she’s not going to talk about the alleged orgy. Time and again, she refuses to discuss her private life, making the point that if she were a man, no one would care how many people she’d slept with while in college.

Marked by its outstanding performances and its intelligent script, “The Contender” is stirring entertainment that only falters toward the end, when Lurie, a former film critic who should have known better, hauls in the violins to punctuate emotions that would have resonated clearly without swelling musical accompaniment.

Further, since Lurie stacks so much of his film on Laine’s right to privacy, it’s odd that he’d reveal the truth about what she did that night in college. Whether or not she participated in the orgy won’t be revealed here, but it’s a shame Lurie felt compelled to answer after making such a strong case for Laine’s silence.

Grade: A-

THE LADIES MAN 84 minutes, R; directed by Reginald Hudlin, written by Tim Meadows, Dennis McNicholas and Andrew Steele.

Not ready for prime time – and certainly not ready for a feature film – Tim Meadows’ Leon Phelps, the alarmingly horny, Courvoisier-swilling, 1970s lisping Lothario he plays on “Saturday Night Live,” isn’t in need of a woman. He’s in need of a script, preferably one that hasn’t plucked its comedic mojo straight out of a toilet.

Once again, “SNL” producer Lorne Michaels has turned a passably funny sketch on his passably funny show, and stretched it to its breaking point in an 84-minute movie that has a few big laughs, but hardly enough of them.

The director, Reginald Hudlin, working from a script by Meadows, Dennis McNicholas and Andrew Steele, wants his film to be as smooth and as infectious as the funkadelic music he highlights throughout. But a string of bad decisions prevents that from happening.

This is, after all, the sort of film that relies on the sort of sight gags that includes one character being tricked into eating feces and a nun stating on radio that she soon hopes to take the missionary position in – naturally – Bangkok.

The story, such as it is, follows Phelps after he gets canned from his radio show for making obscene comments. What ensues is a film that follows Phelps from station to station as he makes the same verbal faux pas.

With Billy Dee Williams, Will Ferrell, Tiffani Amber-Thiessen and Julianne Moore, of all people, as a kinky, oversexed clown (her performance is the year’s most embarrassing), “The Ladies Man” is a film that’s so crudely produced, disjointed and mostly unfunny, it should be stiffed at the cineplex.

Grade: D+

On Video

TOY STORY 2 92 minutes, G; directed by John Lasseter, written by Andrew Stanton, Rita Hsaio, Doug Chamberlin and Chris Webb.

Pixar-Disney’s “Toy Story 2,” finally available on video, not only holds up to the original, it sometimes surpasses it in ingenuity and wit, setting a new precedent for the medium while lifting a bar already raised to dizzying heights in the studios’ 1998 film “A Bug’s Life.”

Besting themselves, the Pixar-Disney team has created in “Toy Story 2” a film so seamless in design and so rich in detail, even the most jaded of audiences will be struck by its high level of invention.

This is no shameless sequel, but a fully realized film that stands on its own. Once again, Woody (voice of Tom Hanks) is the story’s focus. A bit older now, a bit tattered, his shoulder torn and his stuffing coming loose, Woody is left at home when his owner, Andy, goes away to summer camp.

Hurt and depressed and feeling as if he’s this close to the trash bin, he sulks along with Andy’s other toys, a hodgepodge of characters who seem to exist with the sad knowledge that Andy will one day tire of them and move on to bigger and better toys.

If this gives the film emotional depth, it also gives it its spectacular spark since these toys won’t leave Andy’s bedroom – or his heart – without a fight.

When Woody is kidnapped by an evil toy collector (Wayne Knight), Woody’s pals – Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles), Slinky Dog (Jim Varney), Rex the dinosaur (Wallace Shawn) and Hamm the piggy bank (John Ratzenberger) – all conspire to get him home safe before Andy returns.

No one has to say what these toys are thinking: Without Woody in the bedroom as an anchor, who’s to say what would become of them?

Filled with action, superb new characters, a terrific parody of “Star Wars” and a clear understanding of human nature, “Toy Story 2” proves, without a doubt, that toys are not only for kids, but that toys are us.

Grade: A

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays in Style and Thursdays in The Scene.