In the White House, a Vice President Sneaks His Way to the Top

Amy Adams and Christian Bale in "Vice"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

For over a decade, Adam McKay has found success in directing fun, mainstream comedies, such as the two “Anchorman” movies, “The Other Guys,” and “Step Brothers,” while serving as a co-writer for them, as well.  With these films, McKay reveled in their uproarious scenarios, delivering memorable characters and an abundance of laughs.

Then, in 2015, he expanded his storytelling abilities by directing and co-writing the comedy-drama, “The Big Short,” in which he provided an in-depth view of the 2007-2008 financial crisis, offering both a humorous and maddening experience as we watched where it all went wrong with America’s economy.

He now brings us another true-story account with his newest comedy-drama, “Vice," and although the performances are fantastic, McKay tries too hard to get his point across at times, resulting in a weakened impact.

The story follows Dick Cheney (Christian Bale) as he rises to power within Washington, D.C., and soon becomes one of the most secretive leaders in 21st-century America during his time as vice president to George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell).

In his role as Cheney, Bale continues to show his talents at being a transformative actor.  He has the flawless ability to sink into his characters, and you wouldn’t recognize that it’s him playing Cheney if you walked into this movie not knowing anything about the cast.  He accomplishes Cheney’s vocals and brings out a mischievous personality, embodying the sneakiness with which Cheney used to place himself into the position of authority that he sought.  Even with the movie’s flaws, it’s Bale’s performance that helps make this film worth a watch.  

Amy Adams gives a terrific performance as Cheney’s wife, Lynne.  In her first scene, Lynne mentions that, because she’s a woman, her career options are limited (this portion of the film takes place in the ‘60s), so she implores Dick to do what he can for the both of them in order to bring a sense of accomplishment to their family.  Once the two of them get to Washington, Adams shows us that Lynne has a determination for political success that’s as strong as her husband’s, and to see her character work alongside her spouse makes for an intriguing couple to watch as they attempt to gain more and more power.

Despite only having a few scenes, Rockwell makes a humorous impression as George, Jr.  Just like Bale, he’s able to channel his real-life counterpart’s mannerisms without fault and not have it devolve into an overblown caricature.  Even though Bale is the star of the movie, Rockwell is able to hold the screen in equal measure when he shares it with Bale, and they’re able to create scenes of dynamite acting as we watch two individuals that are pretty much the doppelgängers of Cheney and Bush.

The film also has memorable performances from Steve Carell as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld; Alison Pill and Lily Rabe as Cheney’s daughters, Mary and Liz, respectively; and Tyler Perry as Secretary of State Colin Powell.  Just as with many of McKay’s other films, he’s able to handle a big cast while giving everyone an opportunity to capture the audience's attention.

  

Similar “The Big Short,” McKay’s screenplay does well in diving deep into his subject.  And, here, we see the troubling nature of Cheney’s constant search for having a level of power that he shouldn’t.  A noteworthy aspect of the narrative is how it doesn’t just focus on Cheney’s time during George, Jr.'s presidency, but also shows a great deal of his time spent in Washington throughout the decades before, where we see the many political connections that Cheney builds as the film gets closer to the time in his life when he’s vice president.

While there’s an intriguing story to be told here, it’s not done so in the best way.  Although the movie is detailed in how it chronicles Cheney’s rise to power, McKay does a little too much when it comes to how he tries to convey his messages, such as hammering in metaphoric visuals throughout the movie in order to emphasize certain aspects of the story that have become clear to us.

During “Vice,” it seems as though McKay is trying to eclipse what he accomplished for “The Big Short.”  For that film, he was able to take one of the most important national stories of the 2000s and explore it from various angles, all while using certain storytelling methods, such as breaking the fourth wall, and was able to keep it from feeling excessive.  With the significant chapter of U.S. history that “Vice” depicts, it’s easy to understand why McKay would be ambitious with the techniques that he uses to present this story, but a lot of the times, the heavy use of these techniques comes off more as attention-grabbing and unsubtle.  The story that McKay's telling is outrageous enough, so it's not necessary for him to overdo his approach. 

McKay is a director who’s able to construct comedies that can have undemanding narratives, as well as comedies that offer more in the way of thought-provoking stories.  It’s admirable that McKay wants to invest more of his time with the latter, as we've seen with "The Big Short" and "Vice," and if he's able to keep providing us with in-depth analyses of his topics and avoid spoon-feeding their meanings to us, as he does a lot with his latest movie, than I'm sure his evolution as a filmmaker will impress us once again.    

    

Grade: B-