Film Review: “Vice” (2018)

Adam McKay’s brilliantly flawed film demonstrates the folly of idolizing the Bush years.

For some reason, I’ve been on a bit of a political drama kick of late, and so I thought I’d finally get around to watching Vice, the searing film written and directed by Adam McKay. An unsettling hybrid of satire, dark comedy, and biopic, it follows the career of one Dick Cheney, the man from Wyoming who, as a result of his dedication to power, eventually becomes the power behind the throne during the Bush presidency. Though it’s an at-times frustrating film — the brilliant performances of its cast and its incisive political commentary undercut by a meandering narrative structure — it is also a timely reminder of the dangers of idealizing the Bush years, something that became distressingly common during the Trump era.

To start with the obvious: Christian Bale is simply stunning as Dick Cheney. It’s not just his physical transformation — though Bale’s commitment to inhabiting the bodies of his subjects is even more in evidence than usual. It’s the way that he seems to capture Cheney’s mannerisms and his way of being in the world. This is a man dedicated to being a servant to power, nothing more and nothing less. Rather than trying to make Dick Cheney sympathetic or rounding out his hard edges, Bale leans into the sinister side…