Vice (2018)

A young man (Christian Bale) journeys from an aimless party animal life in rural Wyoming to arguably the most powerful Vice President in U.S. history, Dick Cheney. Directed by Adam McKay (THE BIG SHORT). The film acknowledges right off the bat that Cheney is a secretive (their word, not mine) and private man. The film then proceeds to give us the backstory of the rise of Cheney but while the public facts cannot be disputed, the behind the scenes story is merely speculation and not substantiated. Being left of center myself, I have no problems at all with the film's "liberal" agenda but it's done with all the subtlety of a hammer. The film is a political satire (or black comedy if you prefer) and it's very clever and there are some truly inspired moments. But it's the kind of film I worry that people will see and accept as fact because they saw it in the movie so it must be true. I enjoyed it but I remained skeptic through out. With one exception, the performances are flawless and Bale and Amy Adams (as Mrs. Cheney) are awesome. I had a problem with Sam Rockwell's George W. Bush which came off as a caricature (not unlike Alec Baldwin's Trump on SNL) rather than a real person. With Steve Carell, Tyler Perry (as Colin Powell), Lily Rabe, Alison Pill and Shea Whigham.