There is someone in our family who gets bored easily, and starts poking at the other family members to get either a desired result or something that would staisfy or distract him from his own world... but sometimes he does not get the result he wants because, in reality, nothing is really truly there. But he keeps trying and trying and trying and trying because he believes deep down with all the cover ups and pushback there has to be SOMETHING that he sees in that person that is worth exploring and dismisses all of the other intriguing tidbits exposed because it is not what that person wants.
And unfortunately that sums up Adam McKay's view of Dick Cheney through the film Vice, with an all-star cast that ends up seeing more of a vision unexplored through the film than the reality put in front of us by the writer/director himself.
Casting for Vice was top notch. With Bale, Ms. Adams, Carell and Rockwell, the movie had awards potential written all over it from the start but the pacing, direction, post-production was just not in line with the story of the man they were talking about. McKay and Corwin truly had their work cut out for them and a debate should be put whether they were the right guys for the job in the first place. From the opening crawl, to the mid-credits scene, to the melodramatic moments when they truly feel they have something worth telling (Mary's wallowing over Liz's stance on same-sex marriage flip-flop stands out), the direction was overly reaching (read:desperate) trying to find something on a man who was as he is: boring. The man's hobby was fly-fishing... I mean c'mon...
There were either two ways to go (or both) and the reality is Lynne was the much more engaging character (Ms. Adams could have had a better chance of winning more trophys than Bale, though they were all equally excellent). Focusing 80% on her would have resonated better, and then McKay should have given up the autobiographical accounts to a more satirical look of the White House (fiction, non-fiction, wouldn't matter) in his own style. It's never too late with this current administration, but thank God Christian Bale carried the character, from beginning to end, as it was very wise to add that closing monologue, to let Cheney tee off, if you will. A last look of a perspective that Cheney himself would begrudgingly shrug off, probably. But Bale did a great job, overall.
And unfortunately that sums up Adam McKay's view of Dick Cheney through the film Vice, with an all-star cast that ends up seeing more of a vision unexplored through the film than the reality put in front of us by the writer/director himself.
Casting for Vice was top notch. With Bale, Ms. Adams, Carell and Rockwell, the movie had awards potential written all over it from the start but the pacing, direction, post-production was just not in line with the story of the man they were talking about. McKay and Corwin truly had their work cut out for them and a debate should be put whether they were the right guys for the job in the first place. From the opening crawl, to the mid-credits scene, to the melodramatic moments when they truly feel they have something worth telling (Mary's wallowing over Liz's stance on same-sex marriage flip-flop stands out), the direction was overly reaching (read:desperate) trying to find something on a man who was as he is: boring. The man's hobby was fly-fishing... I mean c'mon...
There were either two ways to go (or both) and the reality is Lynne was the much more engaging character (Ms. Adams could have had a better chance of winning more trophys than Bale, though they were all equally excellent). Focusing 80% on her would have resonated better, and then McKay should have given up the autobiographical accounts to a more satirical look of the White House (fiction, non-fiction, wouldn't matter) in his own style. It's never too late with this current administration, but thank God Christian Bale carried the character, from beginning to end, as it was very wise to add that closing monologue, to let Cheney tee off, if you will. A last look of a perspective that Cheney himself would begrudgingly shrug off, probably. But Bale did a great job, overall.