Vice (Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Sam Rockwell, Steve Carell, Tyler Perry) – Adam McKay directed and co-wrote the exceptional and creative film The Big Short. Many of the techniques he used in that film permeate Vice. In The Big Short, the focus was on the crisis in the housing market that almost sunk the entire economy.
In Vice, which he directed and wrote, McKay goes after Dick Cheney. It’s a ruthless attack. Other than showing him as a dedicated family man, McKay’s Cheney has no redeeming quality. He understudies then-Congressman Don Rumsfeld as an intern; becomes obsessed with power; ruthlessly works his way up the rungs of power; manipulates “W” into giving him unprecedented power; and leads us into war with Iraq by burying facts and manipulating the system. Some of this is undoubtedly based on fact. Like JFK, Oliver Stone’s conspiracy-laden film about the assassination, Vice feels like the writer/director pounded his own political views over its audience with a sledgehammer.
Vice has little redeeming value except for the extraordinary acting of Christian Bale, Sam Rockwell and, to a slightly lesser extent, Amy Adams and Steve Carell. As Cheney, Bale is beyond excellent. He has the physical slouch of Cheney down cold. He has the voice, the underlying shyness, and the condescending glare down perfectly. Plus, in a way that makes the character dimensional, he portrays the depth of Cheney’s apparent devotion to his wife, Lynn, and his two daughters, Liz and Mary. Rockwell bears a striking resemblance to “W,” complete with the uncomfortable head-bob, the accent, and the good-old-boy impishness.
Adams, as Lynn Cheney, ages before our eyes as the smart, almost ruthless force behind Dick. It’s not a particularly flattering portrait either. Adams, whose five Oscar nominations speak to her immense talent, never quite matches Bale’s ability to lose us in the character. But she doesn’t take a back seat either in the way so many politicians’ wives seem to be portrayed in film. Steve Carell has the same issues. His Donald Rumsfeld is cynical, ruthless, and more one-dimensional than the other characters. There may have been other choices for the part, but Carell and McKay made The Big Short a hit, and Steve is competent, if unspectacular, here.
If you hate Dick Cheney, you will enjoy the movie. If you love Dick and Lynn, stay home. If you want to see one person’s (McKay’s) interpretation of why everything has gone to hell in the last 20 years, this is the movie for you. They even get a shot in at Trump (referred to as the “Orange Cheeto”) at the end of the movie.
Speaking of that, don’t leave before the “cookie” during the credits. Maybe it would be a good idea just to go to a different movie before walking into the credits for Vice.