At first, Vice predicates itself on an intriguing concept: create a funny and darkly satirical biopic based on one of the world’s nastiest and most powerful men. It begs the question: “How does one make Dick Cheney — one of the most humorless men in America — actually humorous?” Director and screenwriter Adam McKay, who has tackled difficult subjects with a satirical tone before, seemed perfect for the job. However, instead of the biting script, perfectly timed comedic moments, and clear tone we have come to expect from McKay in the wake of The Big Short, Vice is merely a glorified, surface-level Wikipedia page.
For a film that is so insistent on telling us that Dick Cheney is an evil man, Vice does little to show it. In fact, this film almost humanizes Cheney which is seemingly impossible considering all the horrible things he has done. By under-developing him as a character and giving no personal insight into his motivation, everything comes off as simplistic and surface level. It felt like I was watching a history textbook that showcases all the horrible things Cheney did rather than a political satire that explores who he was as a person and a political leader. In that sense, yes, this film is exactly like a Wikipedia page: afraid of taking a stance and hand-holding us through a time in history still fraught in our minds.
Adding to this is the fact that the symbolism and plot are incredibly overt, so much so that you only need minimal amounts of brain power to process it. The narration provided by Jesse Plemons’ Kurt is the biggest contributor to this. I understand it is McKay’s style of explaining complicated issues via narration like celebrities do in The Big Short. However, Vice is not nearly as complicated as the former. I can only think of one time in which the narration was warranted and even that was only somewhat necessary. Instead of creating scenes that show us how America has changed because of Cheney’s actions, we have Plemons telling us instead. He ends up representing all of early 2000s America by jumping from the All-American days of Cheney’s early ascent to the middle of an Iraq bombing, randomly passing in and out the film to narrate and explain the plot. It feels out of place, lazy, and as if McKay is spoon-feeding us information that would be better explained through the film’s actions rather than a person’s mouth. It left me wanting more.
As shallow as Vice is, there are moments when the film provides a degree of intrigue. But just when it has something going for it, the film seemingly undoes itself with scenes that bounce between dull, humorous, and seriousness. It is so incoherent and inconsistent that I almost would have preferred a straight-laced biopic. In one sequence, I am expected to be laughing my socks off, and then two minutes later, witness visceral montages of people getting tortured and bombed, and then subsequently transition into 30 minutes of nothingness. It becomes exhausting and jarring to witness the sporadic nature of it all. Transitions like these showed me just how little care McKay put into this film, and how afraid he was to take a stance on Dick Cheney. By the end, I was just tired and annoyed.
Despite all these moments of frustration, all the highly anticipated performances are fantastic. Not only is Christian Bale’s physical transformation into the heavy-set Cheney impressive, but the mannerisms that Bale imitates are impeccable. Everything from the way he clasps to the way he stands up is horrifyingly accurate and engaging. Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney and Steve Carrell as Donald Rumsfeld provide a spark of energy that Dick Cheney as a person often lacks while Sam Rockwell as George W. Bush is hilarious. These performances, however, do not make up for the rest of this lazy, wishy-washy film.
To give credit where credit is due, making a man who did all these horrible things to our country humorous is a difficult task. However, if you want us to believe that Dick Cheney is a monstrous man who does not care what others think, then take that stance and maintain it. Do not sit on the fence about it, and certainly don’t wait until the last two minutes to expose who he is with a cheesy plot device. Despite the disclaimer at the beginning of the film that “we tried our fucking best,” their “fucking best” was simply not good enough.
Rating: 2/5