Vice is an American drama/comedy about US Vice President Dick Cheney with Christian Bale in the lead role, having undergone quite the physical transformation.
I wrote the sentence above a good few days before coming back to this to try to get my thoughts down about this film. It’s a hard one and it took a while to understand why I couldn’t just write this bloody thing! You see, this Best Picture (musical/comedy) Golden Globe-nominated film didn’t really float my boat as you might expect a Best Picture nominee to, to be honest but that’s not to say there’s nothing good about it. Bale as Cheney and Sam Rockwell as President George W Bush in particular are superb and Amy Adams as Cheney’s wife Lynne and Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld are also good.
The film is directed by Adam McKay who also directed Anchorman and The Big Short which was in the running for four Golden Globes and five Oscars but as this article in The Guardian notes, converted them to only one win. If I had to guess I’d say Vice will follow a similar trajectory. (If I was giving it one award I’d give Best Supporting Actor to Sam Rockwell. It’s a small role but by crikey he does George W well.) There’s a lot of buzz but is it actually among the very best films of the year?!
If you take a keen interest in US politics then sure, this is probably worth a look for you but if not, I’d leave this one for when it pops up on Netflix. As someone who doesn’t follow US politics super closely it was interesting to learn about the role of Vice President and how Cheney made it his own (and then some) but the film does this in a slightly unique way that I personally didn’t love. It’s a bit too pretentious for me.
Here’s a collection of excerpts of what the proper critics are saying about the film. It’s a mixed bag and hopefully you can tell why based on reading my own thoughts.
In cinemas 26 December. Trailer here. (If you do see it, stay for the credits.)