“Vice”– Movie Review

This week, I attended an advance screening of writer-director Adam McKay’s “Vice”, a biographical drama about former vice president Dick Cheney, starring Christian Bale and Amy Adams.

Synopsis

When a rudderless young man rises to the level of Vice President of The United States, how will his ambition influence his various life choices?

Story

In the early 1960’s, no one would have had a clue that a young Dick Cheney would ever turn into one of the most powerful (and dangerous) men in America.  Working at various blue collar jobs in Wyoming, he briefly looked like he had a future – but when he flunked out of an Ivy League college, all hope was abandoned.  After work, he spends his nights drinking, gambling, fighting and getting arrested (either for fighting or drunk driving). Eventually, his wife Lynne (Amy Adams) has finally had her fill and reads her husband the riot act:  either straighten up and be responsible or she will leave him.

Through some connections, Dick is able to secure a political internship in Washington, D.C.  He ultimately winds up working for Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carell), a conservative Republican who winds up deeply influencing Dick’s way of maneuvering the various pitfalls of The Capital.  Despite various setbacks over the years, Dick is able to climb the ladder and continue to gain better positions with greater responsibility – among them, working in The Nixon, Ford and Bush41 Administrations.  Before long, he runs for Congress in the Republican Party and wins a seat in The House Of Representatives as Wyoming’s only House Member.

While working for Halliburton, an international oil field services corporation, Dick gets an offer that’s difficult to refuse:  George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell), the Republican candidate for President in 2000, offers him the Vice President spot on the ticket.  Although Dick was loyal to W’s father, he takes a dim view of the son. Initially, Dick has little interest in taking a position that has very little power – and besides, why work for an allegedly-reformed party boy like W, who doesn’t exactly have the best of reputations?  But it occurs to Dick that he can easily manipulate W and negotiate his own terms for his unique vision of the office of Veep. When Bush wins in a controversial election, can Dick wrest power from him?

Review

Much has been made of the physical transformation Christian Bale underwent in order to play this role.  It’s true – he really does look like the subject of “Vice”. However, if you’re relying just on the make-up department to do your acting for you, then you’re really not acting much, if at all.  Fortunately, this is not the case with Bale’s Cheney; he really does become the person so much, it’s scary (well, it helps that Cheney is scary to begin with). In early scenes, we see Bale as a younger version of Cheney when he first married Lynne; even then, where Bale is wearing little if any make-up, we see and hear him speaking exactly how the real Cheney would.  It’s an impressive performance.

Bale’s performance is not the lone reason to see “Vice”.  What makes this movie such a compelling watch is the writing and direction by Adam McKay; at various times it is  clever, funny and dark-themed. A particularly humorous moment occurs when McKay attempts to trick viewers into thinking the film has ended prematurely.  Whatever the opposite of a hagiography is, that’s pretty much how you would characterize “Vice”. As much as McKay makes Cheney look like a monster, he also finds a way to humanize him by means of his family.  Cheney comes across as devoted to his wife and daughters, especially Mary, who famously came out as a lesbian.

Another thing to look out for in “Vice” is the performance by cast members other than Bale.  Specifically, there is Sam Rockwell as the ne’er-do-well-turned-POTUS George W. Bush. Rockwell, like Bale, totally transforms – not just visually but also in terms of his voice and speech patterns.  When the two are in a scene together, it’s truly a marvel to watch both of these gifted actors give a clinic on their craft. Amy Adams, who appears in a substantial portion of the film as Cheney’s wife Lynne, does yeoman's work holding her own as someone who can stand up to Cheney and effectively get through to him.