Vice (Adam McKay, December 21,2018) Movie • Page 2

This was astonishing. I get why people don't like it but it's a great hang and does a wonderful job of distilling a fairly complicated personal biography into an engaging narrative.

 

I think this movie would have been better off if they had just focused on his time as Vice President. Felt like someone hit the fast forward button once the movie hit the late 90s. Also, they beat you over the head with explanations of what Elite Executive Privilege is, which is fairly easy to grasp, but they spend like ten seconds explaining Cheney’s interests in Iraq. McKay is way too condescending throughout, and it’s very clear he couldn’t decide if this should be a comedy or a drama. And the framing device is bonkers and completely unnecessary.

Still, I feel like this sails through solely on the strength of Christian Bale and Amy Adams’s performances. And when McKay’s directing style works, it really works.

 

I enjoyed it for the most part but the framing device was expected if you saw The Big Short. The whole narrative though felt like a Michael Moore documentary. Carrell was the standout, felt like he channeled Michael Scott in the scene where he fought with Colin Powell.

 

Did people not like this as a film or because of the the way it portrayed the Cheney? What’s a good book I should read about him?

I thought the credits in the middle were pretty great.

 

I really enjoyed this. The acting was great and I’m expecting Bale to get a nom.

 

The framing device worked for The Big Short because it was a complicated issue that needed some hand-holding. This didn’t need it, especially when it sometimes is just making things up about Cheney.

 

I didn’t hate this but I think tonally it was all over the place and unlike the big short it wasn’t focused enough. Some good performances and some good moments (the credits fake out, the restaurant scene), but some terrible moments (the Kevin spacey monologue at the end and the mid credits scene)

I also agree that they focused on some things that didn’t need a lot of focus (executive privilege) but really skimmed over the Iraq interest and other more interesting parts of Cheney.


All in all a solid movie to kill time to but I don’t think it lives up to the awards hype it is getting.

 

Honestly this was a 10/10 for me and I really don’t understand how someone doesn’t get a clear message from it. The message is that some people have way too much power and other people are too easily manipulated. Had no issues with tone.

 

it's wild that Adam McKay is just a middle aged dad who reads biographies and tells his wife random tidbits about it, hope he goes back to comedy at some point
that being said his Jennifer Lawrence Theranos movie will probably be great, perfect casting and a wild story

Christian Bale was great
I thought Jesse Plemons was Steve Zahn when you heard just his voice and I was excited for him to be in it, put Steve Zahn every movie
the framing device was mixed, the Alfred Molina cameo was amazing, can't believe Naomi Watts was the Megyn Kelly person, especially weird because she played Valerie Plame who was part of this story too

this was definitely a bit unfocused and dragged at times but there were great parts too

the prosthetics were at times distracting, like hearing Steve Carrell Tyler Perry and Sam Rockwell talk but not recognizing them in their face, very uncanny valley

Making Amy Adams unlikable is super impressive, I can't believe we get a movie where Amy Adams says "I want you to take me to Dick" and she's talking to Dick Cheney

 

I really wish I had seen this before I made my worst of the year list.

Are we ever going to get past the point where actors and directors think that just doing a Saturday Night Live-style mockup of a famous person is the same as creating an interesting or fully formed character? Christian Bale keeps contorting his body and face in these movies, but it never feels like anything approaching depth.

 

Wow this sucked. And I loved The Big Short.

 

This was very disappointing. It would jump from absurd comedy to trying to humanize Chaney the next and it just didn't work. It needed to highlight the evil nature of these characters more, but the only time it really feels like they pushed that was with Carrell's portrayal of Rumsfeld.