Vice

The next movie that I saw on winter break was Vice which tells the true story of how Dick Cheney (Christian Bale) goes from being a ne'er-do-well who flunks out of Yale to arguably the most powerful and influential Vice President in history.  It chronicles his positions as a Congressional intern, an aide to Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carell), the White House Chief of Staff under Gerald Ford, the Representative from Wyoming, the Secretary of Defense under George H. W. Bush, the CEO of Halliburton, and, finally, the Vice President under George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell).  Politics aside, I found this movie to be incredibly disturbing.  Writer-Director Adam McKay employs many of the same techniques used so effectively in The Big Short, such as fast cuts, montages, and a narrator who speaks directly to the audience to explain complicated terminology (most notably the unitary executive theory which states that the President controls the entire executive branch and that neither the legislative nor judiciary branch can tell the executive branch what to do) but they are not as effective here because, in my opinion, the satirical tone doesn't fit the subject matter.  These characters are portrayed in a comical manner while doing truly reprehensible things and it was very off-putting to me.  Cheney appoints his cronies to cabinet positions as if he is (literally) playing a board game, he creates focus groups to find words and phrases that are more palatable to the unsuspecting public for his egregious actions, and he cherry picks intel to support going to war with Iraq.  Through it all he comes across as a cartoon villain.  Furthermore, I don't think this movie gives us much insight as to who Dick Cheney really is or what motivated him.  Christian Bale completely transforms himself for a nearly flawless impersonation but Cheney is such a bland figure that it doesn't seem that remarkable.  Amy Adams (as Lynne Cheney), Steve Carell, and Sam Rockwell give great performances but that really isn't enough to elevate this tone deaf mess of a movie.  Give this a miss.