Vice shows us that Dick Cheney was terrible. We already knew.
An entertaining political comedy albeit one with the subtlety of a swift punch to the face.
This was the biggest issue I had with Vice: it tried to teach you every detail of a rich and complex story but sacrificed the simple artistry that should go into filmmaking. The editing is atrocious; cutting between the actual story and random sequences of fishing and bombings in Cambodia. It was just a complete mess, feeling as if the first cut had been rushed to theaters before anyone looked it over.
I think Adam McKay is now convinced he’s an auteur which is why he’s trying to instill his own style and form. While it felt fresh in The Big Short, it just came across as overdone here. And there are some scenes here that just drone on for way too long. I was expecting something really fast paced and high staked but instead, I got something that moved as fast as Dick himself probably runs.
It wasn’t all bad though. Christian Bale perfectly sinks into the role of the devil incarnate. Giving him just a touch of humanity but not enough to make you forget how absolutely terrible he is. Steve Carell and Sam Rockwell are wildly entertaining and also give very convincing performances. Amy Adams is a great actress who deserved to be given a better-developed character.
This film tries to be edgy without an edge, entertaining without entertainment, and fast without speed but there was something I found to redeem it all: this would make an absolutely FANTASTIC film for a civics class. I know that doesn’t sound like a great thing but hear me out…
Remember those days in high school, in the middle of all the quizzes and group projects where your teacher made you feel there was some good left in the world with the promise of a movie? And then they ended up showing you Gideon’s Trumpet or Suffragettes or something else you have never heard of?
What if they showed this instead?
Vice is at the very least an engaging film to watch. It does one thing right. It shows you how terrible Dick Cheney was and reveals shocking details that even I (a political science major) had never known. It felt like a history lesson and, in the context of a good film, this doesn’t work. But as far as educating our youth on the dumpster fire that was the Bush administration, Vice turns over every desk with stride.
