Based on the True Story You Were Never Supposed to Know

Kaleidoscope’s latest is on Annapurna Pictures, Gary Sanchez Productions, & Plan B Entertainment’s production of “Vice”. Directed & written by Adam McKay, the movie stars Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carrell, Sam Rockwell, Alison Pill, Jesse Plemons, Justin Kirk, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Tyler Perry, & Lily Rabe. Rated ‘R’, it has a running time of 2 hr., 12 min.

The prologue introduces us to a narrator named Kurt (Plemons). The action depicts Dick Cheney (Bale) & his staff responding to the 9/11 attacks. Transition to the beginning of Act I whose setting is Wyoming, 1963, where Cheney is working as an electrical lineman. We learn that he was a student at Yale but was expelled for drinking & carousing. Next scene he is stopped by a police officer because Cheney is driving while intoxicated. When he returns home, Cheney’s wife Lynne (Adams) gives him an ultimatum—clean up his act or she will leave him. To his own surprise, he complies. The film flash forwards to 1969; Cheney has found a position within the Nixon administration working for Nixon’s economic advisor, Donald Rumsfeld (Carrell). As his political shrewdness continues to grow, Cheney learns how to balance his political commitments along with his domestic ones with Lynne & their daughters Liz (Rabe) & Mary (Pill). One day, Cheney overhears Henry Kissinger talking to Nixon about their secret bombing of Cambodia. It is here that Cheney realizes the power that lies in the executive branch of government & what can be done to circumvent the doctrine of checks & balances provided by Congress & the judiciary. Altho Rumsfeld & Cheney are distanced from Nixon by Nixon, they both gain greater power under Gerald Ford as Rumsfeld becomes Secretary of Defense & Cheney White House Chief of Staff. After the Carter administration ousts both of them, Cheney returns to Wyoming to run for its sole seat in the House of Representatives. It is at this time that he suffers his 1st heart attack, & Act I concludes.

McKay, who directed 2015’s similarly structured “The Big Short”, has produced a more uneven effort here. Some of the transitions between the past & present feel a bit forced & disjointed—this, of course, is due to writer McKay’s script. The use of the narrator—even tho it is disclosed why he was important & reinforces the irony of Cheney’s life—jars somewhat with the more naturalistic approach used throughout the rest of the movie. McKay’s handling of the actors, as always, is excellent. He gets all of them, especially Bale, to give very convincing performances. McKay is successful at getting major actors to play minimal roles—even tho they are recognized, the audience never feels as if it is watching a who’s who or guessing game. The dialogue rings true, & much of it is swathed in acerbity & paradox. Also making the dialogue have a coat of veracity is that it is juxtaposed by having the actors display emotions in direct contrast to the words’ denotations & connotations. As mentioned previously, Bale is excellent as Cheney. His nuanced performance displays correctly how true evil is usually cloaked in the semblance & guise of normalcy & innocence. The ignoble, iniquitous, & sinister can lie concealed behind a veil of routineness. Adams give her usual subtle performance as a woman whose quiet demeanor belies the strength & control underneath. She is a bit of a puppet master at times; Cheney does not even seem aware of her power at these moments. Carrell is superb as Rumsfeld. He appears as a sycophant who revels when he is part of the inside circle but is too dim to understand why he is ultimately sacrificed when he is purged during the Bush administration. Rockwell captures the essence of ‘W’ as he gleefully & thankfully allows Cheney to handle all of the ‘lesser & routine’ matters of Bush’s presidency such as budget, energy, & foreign policy. The other roles are all handled with aplomb by the roster of supporting roles. Nicholas Brittell’s score, while ambitious in the HBO series “Succession” is more mundanely composed here. Greig Fraser’s cinematography and Hank Corwin’s editing are sharp & clear.
I give “Vice” 3½ out of 5 nuggets. If you are into political movies that enlighten, head to your local cineplex. If not, give it a try. It might become a ‘vice’ of yours.