When the first trailer for Vice was released a few months back I was very excited. It looked like a smart, fast paced political satire with Christian Bale at the absolute top of his game. Bale was great in the movie, along with Amy Adams who played Dick Cheney's wife, Lynne, however the narrative structure of the film was an absolute mess and completely over complicated.
Adam McKay is capable of making great films. He proved it with The Big Short. What made The Big Short so great was that it was so original in it's storytelling that it took a really complex topic and made it understandable and funny to a general audience without talking down to them. Vice tried to do this and not only failed, but it fell flat on its face.
Vice is narrated by Jesse Plemons. His true identity is kept secret until the end of the film when you find out that he was the donor that gave Cheney a new heart. One day he is out for a run and is struck by a car and killed.
McKay made the odd choice to have Plemons narrate the entire film. It was unnecessary and extremely annoying. At times it felt like someone was talking over the movie and I wanted to tell them to shut up.
It's like McKay didn't think the audience was smart enough to follow the plot on their own and they needed this fuck stick to explain every little detail of what is happening. There's a scene with Dick Cheney gargling some mouth wash and thinking deeply. We the audience can tell he is thinking deeply because of the way he is acting. All of a sudden you hear Plemons narration start babbling, "What was Dick Cheney thinking in this moment?" It completely removes you from the scene. It's like an annoying audience member interrupting a critical point in the movie.
Obviously a political movie is going to have some bias in it. Cheney wasn't exactly a good guy but you are left with the impression that he caused every horrible thing to happen in the world after he left office. McKay shows still images of MAGA rallies and terrorist attacks, all while Cheney is getting a new heart. It's some dumbass attempt to be "woke" and connect Donald Trump to Dick Cheney which is not accurate.
Bale acted his heart out but McKay kept getting in the way. The story was told out of order, flashing between different periods of time. It's not necessary and just makes for a confusing narrative structure.
Steve Carell also did a horrific job of playing Donald Rumsfeld. I never once got immersed in a scene with Carell and Bale because I didn't believe for a second that he was the actual Donald Rumsfeld.
I almost forgot to mention the scene with Amy Adams and Christian Bale speaking like they're in a Shakespeare play. PAAAAALEASEEEEE...can you get any more pretentious than that? Thanks for wasting five minutes of my life with a scene that is completely unnecessary and derails the plot.
The real reason for writing this article is because the Oscar nominations were released today and Vice received a Best Picture nomination and If Beale Street Could Talk did not. I adored Beale Street. I fully believe that Barry Jenkins is the next great director of this era. His films are beautiful.
Vice received a nomination because Hollywood loooooovesss political dramas. Especially ones that criticize the right. The Oscars are already a show where rich elites spout their political opinions to an audience of other rich elites who agree with everything that is being said. It's the ultimate echo chamber. These people are so detached from reality that they think we, the average American citizen, want to hear what they have to say about a political topic on a night where they are getting an award for showing up to work and pretending to be someone else.
Listen, this rant has nothing to do with my political views. I tend to lean more left in most cases. I also am not one of those people who thinks celebrities should never talk about politics. If they're passionate about a certain cause it can be helpful for them to speak out because they have such a large audience to spread a message to. I DO NOT however, want to hear them talk about Donald Trump for three hours at an award show because I am just so so so sick of hearing about politics in every other aspect of life.
Donald Trump jokes are also at this point low hanging fruit. Colbert isn't funny anymore because he makes the same tired jokes night after night on his talk show. In a sense Trump has ruined comedy because they're so many unoriginal jokes out there being said everyday. This also leads back to Vice, because smart political satire can be amazing. Vice is on the nose and lazy, just like Colbert's nightly Trump jokes.
What's more overall thesis in this article? Even I don't know. I guess I'm mostly frustrated that Beale Street was snubbed and this half ass "woke" film was nominated instead. I'm also frustrated at the Oscars and how they've been ruined by our current political climate. I'm frustrated that we can no longer enjoy an award show because we love the art of filmmaking. Every speech has to have some self-righteous message in it. Then we are forced to watch all these rich people stand up and clap and pretend that the person accepting the award is a hero for speaking out in a room where everyone agrees with them.
I guess my main main message really is that Vice is bad. It's a bad movie dressed up to look like a smart political satire. I see through the fake dressings and see that Adam McKay is just polishing a wannabe woke turd.
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