Vice

Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, Jesse Plemons, Tyler Perry, Alison Pill, Lily Rabe

Director: Adam McKay

Told by an unnamed narrator (Jesse Plemons), we follow Cheney (Christian Bale) beginning with his party heavy college years. We then see his relationship with his wife Lynne (Amy Adams) and his introduction to politics as an Intern for Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carell). This leads all the way to becoming Vice President of the United States under George Bush (Sam Rockwell).

To me, the movie has been completely mis-marketed. To call this a comedy or satire is very misleading, as the film is very biopic in nature, walking the audience through every step of Cheney’s dealings and manipulation/interpretation of the constitution on his way to becoming Vice President. There are one or two spots that are comedic and I did laugh but the rest of the film is very focused on the serious nature of Cheney's dealings. McKay does his best to keep things interesting, like he did in The Big Short, employing a frenetic editing style as well as Jesse Plemons as the narrator. To give away who he plays would be a disservice, but It felt cheap to me. I also found it particularly difficult to figure out what McKay was attempting to say about Cheney in the end. It wants to condemn him but it also has a weird admiration of him as well, because he was clearly the smartest person in the room and knew how to ultimately get what he wanted. While the film appears well researched, it's hard to tell what is actually accurate. I can't find a better example of this than a bit at the very end where Bale, as Cheney, speaks directly to the camera and addresses the people watching, which still hasn't sat well with me since I left the theater. It wasn't helped by a credits scene that further compounded my confusion and frustration. The acting, especially by Bale, Adams, and Rockwell is impeccable. Bale transformed himself to play Cheney and the makeup needed to complete said transformation is stunning. It was definitely more impressive all around than Gary Oldman’s Oscar winning performance in Darkest Hour. And for as long as the film was, I was never bored. There was always something interesting happening.

Despite a trio of great performances, the film is hard to enjoy because of its unwillingness to commit to an opinion on Cheney.

C-