Vice (2018)

There is something quite underwhelming about Vice, and it's the music. Nicholas Britell composed the most beautiful soundtrack of the year for If Beale Street Could Talk. So I had some high expectations for Vice too. But the music is disappointingly bland, typically Washington DC invoking West Wing or House of Cards. Compare this to the really slick, snazzy trailer so sharply edited to the music. The movie really misses out on the style that made The Big Short and even the Vice trailer unique and fun. The movie does have a style, it's mockumentary without the talking head interviews. I really dislike the ending in which the Dick Cheney turns his head to break the fourth wall for the first time. It's unnecessarily jarring and so clearly copying House of Cards. I guess we're supposed to draw a parallel to Frank Underwood's iconic evil, but Cheney's real evil can stand on it's own. He's already sitting for an interview; he could have said the exact same monologue to the interviewer. Overall, the movie feels tonally awkward. The narration feels very out of place.

There are some things done well. Adam McKay draws an abundantly clear line from Dick Cheney to Donald Trump. He hears all the rank and file Republicans crying that this is not their GOP, and he demonstrates plainly how wrong they are. Trump naturally emerges from the traditions of Cheney-style conservatism. And McKay will not let them deny it. Call it a primary source on our contemporary times. The situation is so dire that you can only laugh to not cry.

The acting is superb all around. Steve Carrell has been acting in dramas lately, but you really see him shine in comedies. Amy Adams is stellar as usual. And Christian Bale is phenomenal, as is his make-up artist. He is absolutely unrecognizable and looks uncannily like Dick Cheney.