Review of Vice (2018) by Caitlyn S — 01 Jan 2019

A film that is overly long, particularly in its first hour and 15 minutes... yet still manages to feel choppy and under-developed. The acting of its top-billed cast cannot be faulted, but the script is at its best predictable and at its worst random to a painful level (e.g. a long and non sequitur Shakespeare exchange somehow meant to be foreplay, and a moment where the otherwise pitch-perfect Steve Carell is asked to play Michael Scott Goes to Washington). The liberties taken with fact, legal theory and interpretation are stretched so thin that at multiple moments incorrect and blatantly biased information is not only relayed through the characters, but actually put forth in text format for the viewers. Viewers hoping for a Big Short round two will find instead a highly colorized and thinly veiled mini-series that is propaganda in all but name (and even there draws close), with actual no-joke subliminal messaging included.

Great acting, particularly from Bale and Carell, shines in this film... and was the main reason the two loudly complaining individuals in front of us did not walk out... and the makeup team deserves fifteen Oscars. On the other hand, the usually great Amy Adams is given little to work with from the script, and many of the supporting cast barely rise beyond an SNL skit.

Perhaps one can forgive some of the travesty in Vice when remembering that, like Inglorious Bastards, it is not a documentary. On the other hand... the filmmakers begin their tale with an assertion that their story is true.

My recommendation is to skip.