Wyoming, 1 9 6 3. Dick Cheney dropped out of Yale and was stopped by police for drunken driving, so his wife Lynne orders him to pull himself together. He does, in fact, more than expected: he becomes Donald Rumsfeld's intern during the Nixon administration. After the Watergate affair, Cheney's sweet words earn him the place of White House Chief of Staff under President Gerald Ford, and later chairman of the House Republican Conference during Ronald Reagan. Cheney aims for more, for the Presidential position, but his campaign gains almost no interest. However, in 2 0 0 0, George W. Bush persuades him to be his Vice President. When Bush is elected as the new US President, and 9/11 takes the country by surprise, Cheney takes much more control and influence than he should: he orders US military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as kidnappings of people suspected to be Islamic terrorists and telephone tapping of anybody suspicious. The Bush administration is extremely unpopular and ends on a low note in 2 0 0 8.
Excellent "Vice" is a tour-de-force satire that is both remarkably ambitious and winningly funny at the same time, staying faithful to director-screenwriter's Adam McKay's specific comic taste: a rare cinema highlight of the American film of that decade. Unlike the very safe and calculative "Green Book", "Vice" takes a 'social issue' topic, but presents it in a hilariously creative, fresh and inventive manner, worthy of the movie language in full expression: there is almost nothing calculative in this biopic, since you never know what McKay is going to do next. When a movie starts off with this opening text: "The following is a true story. Or as true as it can be given that Dick Cheney is one of the most secretive leaders in history. But we did our f*** best!", you know you will not have a boring 'run-of-the-mill' biopic. McKay enriches the film with witty dialogue ("Kissinger is overrated!"), strong character interaction (during a lecture, a young Donald Rumsfeld, played by brilliant Steve Carell, seizes the attention of the audience by hitting the microphone repeatedly on the wall. Later, when asked which Party he wants to join, an impressed Cheney looks towards Rumsfeld and says: "What Party was that guy we just heard?" - "Republican." - "Perfect. Because that's what I am!"), unusual ideas (the reveal of the narrator's identity at the end is delicious; the fake "closing credits" in the middle of the film) and clever sight gags.
The sequence where George W. Bush is trying to persuade Cheney to be his Vice President is a little school of directing in itself: it is intercut with clips of a fishing rod, since it shows that Bush thinks he is luring Cheney, but in reality, the seemingly reluctant Cheney is actually fishing Bush into giving him much more control and leverage than a Vice President should have. Cheney's small metafilm laugh during the conversation is the cherry on top of this sequence. McKay presents Cheney as a man fascinated by power and dominance: he is excited to serve it, but even more excited to be in power and dominate himself. Just like almost any life story, even "Vice" cannot be that neatly summed up into a three-act structure with a clear message at the end, since a lot of his motivation is unknown, and thus the ending is somewhat vague, yet that what was shown managed to explain a lot. Kudos should also be given to Christian Bale in the leading role, who underwent a long transformation from his own look to a completely different physique as Cheney, delivering one of the best film performances in his career—not because he gained weight, but because the greatness simply stems from inspired writing to every atom of this film. McKay demonstrated passion and energy rarely seen in modern films.
Grade:+++
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