As a college student earning a Bachelor’s Degree in TV/radio news during the period of time that 9/11 took place, I have an intimate connection with the George W. Bush administration. I spent many years focusing on the entire administration, and one thing always stood out to me : the seemingly elusive and power-hungry nature of Vice President Dick Cheney. For years, Bush was painted as the villain, but to many of us watching, we could see Cheney’s influence and the way it benefited him. Nearly 20 years removed from the time served in office, Adam McKay has taken on Cheney and his rise to power in the form of the interesting comedy-drama that is Vice.
Richard ‘Dick’ Cheney (Christian Bale) and his wife Lynne (Amy Adams) are a young couple living in Casper, Wyoming in the early 1960s. Lynne is ambitious and driven, but due to the times, held back based on her gender, and her frustrations are further compounded by the path that her husband Dick seems to be taking. In an effort to better both of their lives, she pleads to Dick to take some initiative and turn things around for them, leading to Dick’s time as an intern in the White House during the Nixon administration. Cheney is impressed by Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carell) during orientation, and finds himself working under him, where Cheney begins to learn about opportunity and the impact that choices in the White House have on the entire world. After Nixon is impeached, Cheney finds himself the youngest Chief of Staff during the Ford administration, where he helps get Rumsfeld appointed as Secretary of Defense. The pair begin making moves to put the Republicans in a position of power, but the plans are undercut by the election of President Carter and the Democratic takeover of the White House. Dick and Lynne return to Wyoming to focus on a position in the House of Representatives, only to find himself back in the White House during the George H.W. Bush (John Hillner) administration prior to taking time in the private sector to run the Haliburton company. All of this served as run-up to his greatest act, which was serving as the Vice President with the most control and power on record under President George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell).
Vice is the story of building momentum via opportunities that present themselves. The line between taking charge of your life and career and taking advantage of those that help you position yourself becomes blurry and questionable during Cheney’s journey. The concept of loyalty is also brought into question, as it seems to be a quality that is valued right until the moment that it appears disadvantageous to remain loyal. On top of everything that falls in Cheney’s political journey and his cold, calculated nature, the irony of Cheney continually escaping death in the form of several heart attacks is driven home by his receipt of an entirely new heart. This literal ‘new’ life he is given only further seems to extend his ability to stay wholly focused on what benefits him and those he loves.
While Cheney stepped into politics as an opportunity, he quickly became a student of the game, only to learn that he could change it through nuance and the power of laws. Watching the mistakes of those he worked with and was in the same circles with allowed him to not only use those missteps for educational purposes, but to study the reactions of the public and those impacted in order to shape his method and protocols. Multiple origins are shown where the seeds of connection were planted, many of which paid off in the form of power, influence and cronyism during the Bush presidency, including a power building machine in the form of Fox news and an old buddy on Supreme Court that would help during a questionable moment in election history.
The lighthearted approach to the storytelling mechanism of film brings a much needed comedic edge to a story that, if told in a traditional manner, would probably incite anger. Curveballs are abound throughout, including a false ending with credits that are interrupted right around the middle of the film. The integration of archival news footage, stock footage from the appropriate eras, and popular culture references replace the standard use of informational text, allowing the informational text to serve the purposes of character identification. The makeup and hair done to help the actors embody the likeness of those whom they portray is extremely well done. The editing, when not mirroring films like Goodfellas, is not afraid to shock us with brutal visual reminders of the events directly tied to choices that Cheney had a hand in.
Christian Bale's transformative performance, both in appearance and persona, is downright amazing, as he seems to perfectly embody the nature and tendencies of the highly secretive Cheney. Amy Adams takes a 1950s approach and wraps it around a sense of pride, drive and determination that becomes the motivating force behind the Cheney family. Steve Carell takes his normally light comedic nature and turns it into a boorish, pushy personality in the form of Rumsfeld. Sam Rockwell manages to embody the spirt of George W. Bush without turning him into a human cartoon. Jesse Plemons serves as the bridge between film and audience, bringing a blue-collar essence to a film wholly focused on the advantaged and opportunistic. Alison Pill plays the emotion heart of the Cheney family, while Lily Rabe serves as an echo of the parents in the form of a child driven to politics. Tyler Perry manages to shed the persona that follows him and commit himself to play the tragic prideful downfall of Colin Powell true to heart. Political characterizations by Justin Kirk, Don McManus, LisaGay Hamilton, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Matthew Jacobs, Eddie Marsan, Kirk Bovill, Bill Camp, Joseph Beck and Paul Perri, plus guest appearances by Fay Masterson, Alfred Molina and Naomi Watts round out an extremely stacked cast.
Vice has been garnering critical praise, and I can definitely see why, but in my opinion, outside of a few acting awards, I found myself more so distracted than connected to the film’s style. The film is good, but not enough to shift the needle on my tops of 2018 list... that being said, it is definitely worth a watch, and will probably be viewed with W. in a personal double-feature once I have the chance to do so.
