Yes It's True. This Man Has No Dick

By Tom Pacak

“We tried our fucking best” those words kick off the start to Adam McKay’s “Vice,” a brilliant critique of former Vice President Dick Cheney (Christian Bale) through his years in Congress to his Vice Presidency. I’m positive a lot of the stuff that goes on in “Vice” is not historically accurate but at least McKay is open about it. That’s one of the reasons why I’m giving this film a good rating. A lot of people have sacrificed historical accuracy in favor of making a historical figure look bad. It can work as long as the source of material is interesting. And I’ll tell you, McKay makes me very intriguing. 

It’s also worth noting that director Adam McKay identifies as a liberal. This should be a surprise to nobody since he’s expressed in numerous interviews his disdain for Trump and the Bush Administration. What should surprise you the most is that he’d prefer Trump over Bush and Cheney any day of the week. Most liberals I know tell me that they’d prefer the Bush administration over Trump any day of the week. Bill Maher always says he’d give a million dollars for Bush to be president again. McKay is one of the rare liberals that wouldn’t.  “I would choose Trump over Bush and Cheney,” McKay told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview. McKay’s view of it is that Trump is an idiot but the Bush Administration knew actually what they were doing. They were smart, calculated, and above all evil. Cheney knew how to make power moves and to achieve what he wanted. McKay rather prefers pure ignorance over smart people who know they’re evil.

Adam McKay has no empathy for what Dick did during his time in office. Dick Cheney is portrayed as a ruthless politician who knows how to play the game of politics. The film is narrated by Kurt (Jesse Plemons), an unknown man who surprisingly plays a major role in saving Cheney’s life. It starts off with Dick working for Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carell) the youngest person to serve as Secretary of Defense. Carell is perfect here depicting Rumsfeld as a power-hungry slimeball so hated nobody wants him in an inner political circle. Dick keeps his friendship with Donald in order to get ahead which later benefits him, as he becomes youngest Chief of Staff for Gerard Ford.

Politics is going well for Dick but his home life isn’t. He gets two DUIs and repeatedly ridiculed by his wife Lynne (Amy Adams). If there’s one part of Dick’s life that McKay shows empathy for is Dick’s family life. Here, Dick Cheney is depicted as being a positive family man. Whether that was for politics or love is up for the viewer’s imagination. When Dick’s daughter Mary (Alison Pill) comes out gay, Dick chooses family over politics. He even tells George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell) that’s one area he refuses to get involved in.

The pivotal moment in Dick’s political career is his time as Vice President for Bush. Even though Dick has a lower position than Bush, Dick is seen as the one calling the shots in the administration. He’s the one who called for the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks. A brilliant scene shows Dick and some members in the administration ordering food at the restaurant where the waiter instead gives them foreign policy options such as torture, Guantanamo Bay, and invasion of countries. They chose all of them.

The reason “Vice” works so well is that its clever ways it breaks the fourth wall. Adam McKay used this same style in “The Big Short,” the film about the 2008 financial crisis. His wall breaking style talks down to the audience and knows that they’re uninformed. He also chooses the right actors to embody the people depicted as awful. Christian Bale completely disappears as Dick Cheney. Watching the film, I had no idea who the guy playing Dick Cheney was. He’s truly amazing! Amy Adams also disappears in her as Lynne; the deviant wife to Dick Cheney who tells him that being VP is a terrible nobody job. She describes it the best way possible, “the job where you wait for the President to die.” Even though he’s barely in the film, Sam Rockwell is pitch perfect playing George W. Bush. From his droll facial expressions to his Bushisms, Rockwell nails him down perfectly.

It’s clear before this film was made that “Vice” was going to be a partisan film. I knew that going into it and that’s probably why I enjoyed it so much. If I wouldn’t have known that, I probably would have hated the film. Plus, McKay even pokes fun at the film’s self-awareness with a hilarious post-credit sequence where some side characters acknowledge the film’s bias.

I know I have a lot of conservative friends who read my reviews and probably won’t like the movie. But if you see “Vice” and complain about the film’s bias, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Note: Now Playing in Theaters

Rating: 3.5 Stars Out of 4 Stars