Review: Vice

As he proved in his Oscar-winning The Big Short, which tracked how the financial crisis of 2007-2008 was caused by the United Sates housing bubble, writer-director Adam McKay is very clever at taking fairly complex ideas and making them accessible to the layman. With his use of unconventional narrative techniques and fun way with heavy exposition, viewers came away not only entertained but educated.

McKay deploys many of those same tricks in his latest film, Vice, which aims to be a stinging political satire, an indictment of modern times, and a portrait of man so cunning that he insinuated himself into the most powerful and influential position whilst essentially hiding in plain sight. Unfortunately, McKay's magpie and digressive style feels more a hindrance here so, whilst the film takes aim and hits many of its targets, the result feels aimless and scattershot. The film plays like a CliffsNotes version of the real story - viewers grasp all of the main points but not the details required for them to explain the complexities of the situation.

Or perhaps there is nothing particularly complex about Richard Bruce Cheney (Christian Bale, convincing under the prosthetics) who, at the very least, was a man ever ready to answer when opportunity came knocking at his door. Not that he showed much promise in 1963, when he was working as a linesman in Wyoming and getting into drunken barroom brawls. His wife Lynne (Amy Adams) tells him in no uncertain terms that she will leave him unless he gets his act together. He promises never to disappoint her again, a statement which, according to the film, was his primary driving force behind all his machinations.

Dick and Lynne are made out to be modern-day Macbeths - McKay even has them lapse into Shakespearean language at one point - but, again, it's more a reference than actual characterisation. It feels a missed opportunity to flesh out Lynne's character - the motivation behind her ultimatum is her determination not to repeat what happened in her parents' marriage and also find a way to make her mark in the world and if she, as a woman, was unable to do that because of the times, then she would damn well ensure that her husband did what she could not. The part ends up a thankless one, and certainly far beneath Adams, who nonetheless manages to create dimensions in a thinly written role.

If the film doesn't work as a whole, it at least works in moments and most especially when McKay finally gets to Cheney's years with George Bush, Jr. (Sam Rockwell). There's a clever scene that has a waiter (Alfred Molina) sharing the dishes of the day, which include "Guantanamo Bay" and a "fresh war powers interpretation," prompting Cheney to say, "We'll take all of it." Also amusing is a faux end credits scene midway through the film as Cheney is set to retire from office. Until the greatest opportunity comes along in the form of Dubya. McKay would have been wise to show more scenes between Cheney and Bush, Jr. or even Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, especially since the latter is played by a hilariously deranged Steve Carell, who injects the film with much-needed energy whenever he appears.

Vice

Directed by: Adam McKay

Written by: Adam McKay

Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, Alison Pill, Eddie Marsan, Justin Kirk, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Jesse Plemons, Bill Camp, Don McManus, Lily Rabe, Shea Whigham, Tyler Perry, Alfred Molina, Naomi Watts