Vice

Rating: R
Runtime: 2 hours, 12 minutes
Director: Adam McKay

Quick Impressions:
So often I’ve written to Santa Claus, “You know what I’d really love to watch with the family this Christmas? A dark comedy about former Vice President Dick Cheney. Hurry Santa! Make my Christmas wish come true.”

Obviously I’m kidding. To be fair, though, I have no legitimate objection to the idea of a Dick Cheney biopic. I’m not offended by the subject, just baffled.

I mean, where is the movie about Teddy Roosevelt? A long time ago, we were told to expect one of those starring Leonardo DiCaprio. What happened to that? Teddy Roosevelt was an eccentric delight who lived an extremely cinematic life, and elements of his career were certainly problematic enough to warrant scrutiny. The first Roosevelt president was kind of a racist and did a lot of bad stuff, but nobody would ever ask, “Why make a movie about Teddy Roosevelt?” I mean, the man took a bullet while giving a speech, then just kept right on talking until he’d finished his remarks.

Of course, Dick Cheney shot a guy in the face, and then the guy apologized to him. That one colorful anecdote does much to justify the decision to make a Cheney film. Most people probably would watch a movie about a guy who accidentally shot someone and received an apology for it. (Actually one of the charming things about this film is its understated dramatization of this event.) Dick Cheney is one of the more unusual figures in American history. His persona is so low key (in the word’s ancient, adjectival sense) that I wouldn’t be surprised if a number of people have never heard of him or know nothing more than his name.  For a non-president, he lowkey did have a lot of power, so much, in fact, that I’d wager he still has the pull to wrest an apology from anyone else he might happen to shoot in the face.

I personally would be terrified to make a movie about Cheney, so I do have to acknowledge the bravery of writer/director Adam McKay. Seeing this project through took guts. Speaking of guts, I’ve read that Christian Bale gained forty pounds to play Cheney, a feat that seems certain to secure him at least a nomination for Best Actor at the Oscars. And surely Amy Adams will be nominated for Best Supporting Actress. She has a decent chance of winning, too, since she’s been nominated 157,000 times before with no wins. (Those numbers might be inflated. I’ll go ahead and admit my bias as an Amy Adams fan.)

Both my husband and I liked writer/director Adam McKay’s last Oscary effort The Big Short, so we went into this film with fairly high hopes. Overall, I’d say The Big Short is a stronger film, but Vice features meatier performances. (That wasn’t intended as a joke about Christian Bale’s massive weight gain.) Cheney, his wife, Bush, and Rumsfeld are all plum roles, and nobody could ask for a more talented, dedicated cast.

The Good:
This movie is a little weird because someone watching could be forgiven for forgetting it’s a comedy. At least, I hope so, because I kept forgetting.

Most of the time, Christian Bale and Amy Adams appear to be in a serious historical drama. In fact, their Dick and Lynne Cheney could be transported to a heavy-hitting, quasi-documentary about the George W. Bush administration, and they would not seem one bit out of place. Nothing about their performances would have to change at all.

Meanwhile, major supporting players Steve Carell and Sam Rockwell are definitely performing comedy. Their Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush do have serious moments (especially Rumsfeld), but they could be dropped into an even sillier, zanier comedy, and they wouldn’t seem out of place there.

This creates a very unusual cinematic experience. Almost everything “comedic” about the Cheneys comes from the way the movie is presented to us and not anything they are doing. We get things like a mock Shakespearen scene, a fake happy ending, a metaphorical dinner out, a moment in which outrageous dialogue is substituted for what was really said, a mysterious narrator putting boots on the ground everywhere, Naomi Watts trapped in a Fox News Groundhog Day, all sorts of crazy, jarring narrative techniques to alert us to the fact that we’re watching something a bit fanciful, satirical, clever. Devices like these let the audience know that we’re watching a comedy, but the Cheneys are definitely not in on the joke. Imagine if someone earnestly played Hamlet on an episode of How I Met Your Mother.

In one scene, for example, young Mary Cheney (Alison Pill) flees from college. The character is hysterically upset. Her parents are baffled. Yet I heard pockets of snickering from the audience. The dramatic irony is darkly amusing to us. Unlike the Cheneys, we’re pretty sure we know what’s going on with Mary. The situation itself is not funny, but it’s a bit funny to the audience entirely because we know something about Mary the characters don’t. What Mary is experiencing is not funny. But the scene is funny (even though it’s about serious, emotional material) because dramatic irony gives us a kind of weird, gleeful euphoria about being in the know. We’re not laughing at Mary’s pain. We’re laughing because we feel so smart and because the movie takes pain to set up the scene with overly dramatic music and editing.

Similarly, the content of the periodic reports delivered by Fox News throughout the film is not funny at all. It’s often serious, disturbing, even angering stuff. But it’s funny to us because the anchor is always (an uncredited) Naomi Watts. Every time. (I was so surprised when her name didn’t show up in the end credits. It is definitely her.)

Why is this funny? Well, I mean, for one thing, it seems like an obvious jab at Fox News, a network that does seem to endlessly trade out interchangeable blonde female news anchors. They all might as well be Naomi Watts! The longer you think about it, the more ways in which this is funny begin to present themselves. But the point is, it’s the film’s narrative devices that drive the comedy, not its performances.

The Big Short is like this, too, but Vice seems to take it even further.

A lot of funny stuff happens. The script is clever (and possibly thinks it’s even cleverer). But I found myself laughing very seldom through large stretches of the movie because the emotional honesty of Amy Adams’s captivating dramatic performance impressed me more than the clever (self-impressed) screenplay. There is nothing funny about Lynne Cheney. She is living out a drama, and Adams plays her with thoughtful care. She makes her real. The script may be making a joke of these people’s lives, but the actress isn’t. Christian Bale also comes far closer to inhabiting Dick Cheney than to skewering him.

I found it interesting that when Adams and Bale give such serious, dramatic performances, the script works overtime to provide moments of humor by making crazy things happen with clever writing (like a false happy ending, a Shakespeare riff, fake penis jokes).

But meanwhile, when Carell and Rockwell bring slightly more humor to their performances, the script focuses more on the dark, disturbing elements of the story. (This isn’t true in every instance. But it is very often the case.)

The acting in the film is excellent across the board, even in smaller roles. And you are sure to learn a lot about Dick Cheney by watching this movie. Of course (though I believe McKay did extensive research), I would advise following up with extensive research of your own if the topic interests you.  (No offense to McKay.  This is sensible advice for watching any movie trying to inform the audience about a complex, historical topic.)

Best Scene:
Lately I’ve had a lot of trouble deciding on one best scene from a film, but this one’s easy. I absolutely adore the Shakespearean plotting fantasy we’re invited to indulge in as we try to imagine how Dick and Lynne must have prepared for Bush’s offer to make Cheney his running mate.

Both Bale and Adams are amazing in this scene. They both have such charisma, such chemistry, such intensity. I wanted to climb right into bed with them, not in a sexual way (necessarily), but just because that’s where the magic is happening.

Amy Adams and Christian Bale need to do Shakespeare together. Clearly they love sharing the screen. If I’m counting correctly, this is their third collaboration (after The Fighter and American Hustle). I would definitely watch them do Macbeth or The Taming of the Shrew, whatever. But this needs to happen.

Besides being just electrifying, this scene is also particularly effective because it reveals that Dick Cheney is, indeed, very Shakespearean in behavior. He wielded tremendous power. If he’d gone around being called Richard and speaking in iambic pentameter maybe we would be able to recognize the type of man he is more readily. On the flip side, of course, real historical figures no doubt behaved a lot more like the non-Shakespearean Dick and Lynne when speaking to each other privately.

Lately everyone seems dissatisfied with the politicians leading us, but what if the real problem is our poets?

Actually, I think the draw of Dick Cheney is his unapologetic ruthlessness. I remember a recent television interview in which he freely admitted to the kinds of behaviors a more typical person would at least attempt to deny. The vibe was very much, “Did you have people tortured?” “Yep, we sure did.” I can’t remember the specifics of the interview. What I took away from it was, “Never make an enemy of Dick Cheney,” a handy maxim.  But he does seem cut from the right cloth to star in his own Shakespearean tragedy (or history play). Ignore his understated manner. Look what he did! With Shakespeare to write his dialogue, he would be just as menacing and memorable as someone like Richard III or Macbeth.  (Perhaps inadvertently, McKay also shows us how easily a historical figure can be turned into a villain by a work of fiction.  I mean, Shakespeare does not exactly give propaganda free interpretations of Richard III or Macbeth.)

I will admit, too, that I’m a sucker for Shakespeare (and these actors.  Probably my ideal movie would just be Amy Adams and Christian Bale rolling around in bed performing Shakespeare.  I’d watch that for hours!).

Best Action Sequence:
My other favorite scene in the film comes when Cheney speaks to his wife’s father at a funeral.

This seems to both foreshadow and parallel the way he will run the nation after 9/11. Here we see he has nerves of steel, iron will, and a commitment to protecting the people he cares about.  (He’s kind of like Superman, except really, he’s much more like Batman.  He even talks like Batman.  And if you squint just right, he kind of looks like Batman.  Better not to examine this too closely.)

I guess the funeral is not really an action scene. But except for some misadventures in his ill-spent youth, Cheney is not really an action guy.  He even shoots people in hunting accidents while sitting in a car.

Best Scene Visually:
I felt so pleased with myself when I figured out the secret of the Jesse Plemons character long before its reveal. But the moment of that reveal is quite gripping. The visual symbolism gets a little bit heavy-handed, but it’s hard to miss the point.

Most Oscar Worthy Moment, Amy Adams:
Amy Adams should have won an Oscar a long time ago. Her work is always outstanding. She’s become one of my favorite actresses, largely because she’s such a gifted and hard working performer. (She’s also quite personable in real life.  She makes it very hard for anyone to hate her, and I think that’s nice.)

The scene in which Lynne gets a phone call about her mother and falls apart is quite interesting, but my favorite is when Adams shows us Lynne’s reaction to Nixon’s resignation. We learn so much about the character here.  As portrayed by Amy Adams, Lynne Cheney is a fascinating woman.

Most Oscar Worthy Moment, Christian Bale:
Bale probably deserves to win Best Actor for this. He looks and sounds exactly like Dick Cheney. Honestly, my favorite part of the movie (aside from the Shakespeare scene) is the calm, resigned way Cheney begins announcing all his heart attacks.

Most Oscar Worthy Moment, Sam Rockwell:
Sam Rockwell gave my favorite supporting performance last year, and I was thrilled when he won the Oscar. Now he’s nominated for a Golden Globe for his portrayal of George W. Bush. I do like the performance, but I must say, I have come to the conclusion that George W. Bush is not terribly hard to play convincingly. I’ve seen so many people do it well. I did really enjoy the “fishing” scene in which Bush again asks Cheney to be his VP.

Most Oscar Worthy Moment, Steve Carell:
Steve Carell actually gives my favorite (male) supporting performance in the film as Donald Rumsfeld. It’s a weird kind of performance because basically he’s playing Steve Carell playing Donald Rumsfeld. I mean, if you saw this guy on the street, you’d never be like, “Look! It’s Donald Rumsfeld!” No, you’d say, “Look! It’s Steve Carell! What’s this bit he’s doing? Is he pretending to be Donald Rumsfeld?” (That’s if you knew who Donald Rumsfeld is.  If comedic bits have taught us nothing, it’s that walking around on the street makes people incredibly dumb, so dumb that they can’t recognize the names of historical figures, current rulers, zoo animals…)  Yet despite the fact that he’s more playing at Rumsfeld than playing Rumsfeld, Carell makes the character so interesting. The phone call in which he learns that he’s out of the Bush White House is quite well played.

The Negatives:
I have some issues with the way this movie handles Lynne Cheney. It’s a little bit hard not to watch and think, “Cheney seized power and invaded Iraq and authorized torture all because he wanted to please his wife? Wow, she’s a regular Helen of Troy, huh?”

The underlying misogyny of this ridiculous explanation is kind of grating. Why was Cheney so power hungry and ruthless? Oh. Because a woman.

I see.

It’s a little bit hard to swallow this notion that because Lynne Cheney had an abusive father, and high standards, and a graceful way of throwing a baton, a man decided to seize control of the United States and wage a war that lined pockets and filled coffins and forever changed the world.

This explanation strikes me as woefully inadequate.

I will accept, grudgingly, that Lynne is the reason Cheney believed he was doing all these things. If the film is trying to say that Dick Cheney lived his life as he did entirely out of devotion to his wife, I sort of buy that. The Cheney in the movie does seem like someone who would believe that women exist to inspire men to greatness.

The trouble is, I have a hard time believing that this is who Dick Cheney actually is. He may tell himself this is who he actually is, or he may perform being this person for others. But real life Cheney just strikes me as too much of a dispassionate pragmatist, a person who does what is strategically sound and has no time for so-called morals.

I highly doubt that the real Dick Cheney would say, “I did it all to impress my wife.” (Of course, maybe he really does say something like that. I haven’t read his books, but I’m pretty sure Adam McKay did.)

I believe that McKay did a lot of research, but I think it may be hard to come up with a useful perspective of a controversial public figure’s impact on history so close to his time in office. In the end, I found I was not completely sure what the film was trying to say (except that Lynne Cheney was the Helen of Troy of the Second Gulf War and that cardiac medicine in the United States really is top notch if you’re the Vice President).

I can see why both conservative and liberal audiences would respond with hostility to this movie.

It’s obvious why self-identified conservatives would be suspicious, and it would be disingenuous to pretend their suspicions aren’t legitimate. (I can’t imagine saying to a die-hard Cheney supporter, “Come on, I’m sure this film will make Cheney look great. The whole purpose of this movie is probably to lionize Dick Cheney and show the virtues of the conservative way of life.”)

But plenty of liberals are bound to hate this, too, because I think it makes Cheney look pretty attractive. Part of this, of course, is that he’s played by Christian Bale, who is a handsome and intensely charismatic man no matter what tortures he puts his poor body through for a part.

After the movie, my husband and I disagreed on this point. He said he didn’t think it was the film’s intention to make Cheney look good. Maybe not, but it does make him look good. He comes across as an almost romantic figure. He’s like the godfather or something. Yes, he’s ruthless and cruel, but he becomes ruthless and cruel in order to protect the vulnerable people in his life. Whatever his failings, Vice‘s Dick Cheney seems like a pretty great husband. He protects his wife from her abusive father. He listens to her advice and concerns. He makes her a true partner and always treats her with love and respect. He is also a loving father to his daughters, despite a frustrating mistake near the end of the film (that clearly causes him grief).

I personally am very weak and perpetually anxious, so I welcome it when strong people want to protect me, and Bale’s Cheney has a real, nurturing strength. He really does remind me a bit of a movie Mafioso. (I don’t consciously know anyone in the Mafia in real life, so I base my impressions of organized crime on beloved films.) Yes, Cheney gives the okay to torture people, but not the people under his protection. Those people he keeps safe. That is not virtuous, but it is vicious so no one else has to be.  It’s harder to hate him than it ought to be.  Intellectually, I disagree with a number of his methods, but the guy’s got charisma the way Bale plays him, and I can see an appealing side.

Now, my husband is probably right that it is not the movie’s intention to portray Cheney in a positive light, but I think it fails to portray him in a suitably negative light. (It makes Lynne look pretty scary, like she’s some single-minded sorceress who has her husband in thrall and calls all the shots behind the scenes.  But Adams even manages to make this somewhat…not appealing.  But her Lynne is a principled woman of dignity.  The movie jokes about her being Lady Macbeth, but then it does seem to offer her to us as a Lady Macbeth figure, so I’m a bit confused about what McKay expects us to take away.)  Bale’s Cheney definitely does not come across as a man who’s easy to hate.

There’s a scene where Cheney asks Steve Carell’s Donald Rumsfeld what they believe in, and Rumsfeld just bursts out laughing. But if you watch Dick Cheney in this movie, it’s clear he does believe in something. What he stands for is the conservative way of life. He respects and protects his wife. He wears the pants. She wears her bra. She influences him. He leads for her. He buys the fancy dinners. She raises the children. The Cheneys believe that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the way things used to be. Times have changed, but they have not. It’s pretty clear what they believe and not completely unattractive because they are people of integrity (in that they are who they say they are).

Another thing Cheney does is amass as much power and wealth as he possibly can. His reasons for doing this appear self evident. He knows the kinds of things he has to do to keep power, and he doesn’t ever want anybody to be able to do those kinds of things to him or to the people he cares about. In another era, these sorts of ethics would be quite attractive and perfectly respectable.

Granted, I personally am quite liberal with no great affection for the real Dick Cheney (though I have not researched his life), and yet I can’t help but sort of admire him the way he’s played here. And I think that’s kind of problematic because most people going to this movie will not want to be led to admire Dick Cheney. I promise you, the people who admire Dick Cheney have no intention of going to this movie or giving it a chance.

Lynne Cheney is problematic in the same way. Amy Adams has said she based her portrayal on her no-nonsense grandmother. She’s found the humanity in the character so that she can portray her with a degree of empathy.

As a writer, I constantly imagine myself as various characters and, subsequently, conceive of the world from their points of view when writing about them. So, I understand the desire to connect on some level with the character you’re playing.

But here’s the thing. Bale and Adams are playing these characters as real, three-dimensional people, and making it possible for us to see their humanity, their strengths along with their weaknesses. And yet tonally, the film wants to be a dark comedy mocking what these people did. And what these people did was order torture and wage war. At moments, the film’s tone, content, and character portrayals simply work against one another. There’s too much going on, and the movie seems at odds with itself.

I liked Vice. I enjoyed watching it. But I can also imagine that a number of people will find it too frustrating to enjoy because it’s trying to do too many warring things simultaneously. It’s a genuine character drama, yet also a satirical comedy, yet also a historical film about a dark period in our history whose legacy is still ongoing.

Some people will think the portrayals are too sympathetic. Some will find the mockery rude. Some will think the comedy falls flat. Some will think you really shouldn’t joke about some of this stuff. Some will question the director’s understanding of the nuanced political material he studied as well as his bias. There are just a lot of reasons for people to dislike the film.

I also found the representation of the person more excited about another film in the post credits scene kind of insulting. To me, it was the equivalent of those jokes stand-up comics make where you have to laugh and applaud or else reveal something embarrassing about yourself with your silence. I felt like it was saying, “If you didn’t like this film, then you must be like one of those dumb young people,” which is grating on multiple levels. My husband took this differently.

Despite all these complaints, however, I personally liked Vice a lot, though I think The Big Short was stronger and more focused. Christian Bale and Amy Adams do give captivating, Oscar-worthy performances. And Steve Carell and Sam Rockwell aren’t half bad, either.

Overall:
Vice is an ambitious film from the director of The Big Short with fantastic performances by Christian Bale and Amy Adams as former Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne.