A to Z Challenge 2020 - Films That Begin With “V”

Vice (2018)
Director: Adam McKay
Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Sam Rockwell, Steve Carell, Tyler Perry, Jesse Plemons
Brief Thoughts: Before The Big Short, Adam McKay was already savaging the state of the country in The Other Guys, which hangs its shenanigans on the same subject matter, so when he made Vice, it seemed almost easy to take his work for granted. Vice is in a lot of ways, the film everyone was waiting for since 2000, the savaging of George W. Bush that W. proved not to be (or at least as it was received). Sam Rockwell’s Bush is the Bush out of a thousand caricatures that probably finally nailed it, as only Rockwell can. Of course, the star of this story is Dick Cheney, as portrayed by Christian Bale, who inexplicably has been utterly taken for granted in recent years despite continuing to have one of the most interesting careers at least in modern film, willing to make himself look foolish in ways not even Will Ferrell ever did in various other McKay movies (you can see how badly McKay wanted this taken seriously when he didn’t cast Ferrell as Bush, despite Ferrell’s long track record doing exactly that). Of course, what sank Vice was that it wasn’t savage enough, it gave Cheney sympathetic moments. Thankfully we don’t live in a society where it matters how such films are received, as I think the results are pitch-perfect.