Republicans, red staters, right-wingers, Donald Trump lovers and various conservative types may want to sit this “Vice” review out. Might I interest you instead in an “Aquaman” critique or a breakdown of the new “Mary Poppins” sequel?
Almost everybody else is getting an exquisitely crafted (though not exactly holly-jolly) Christmas gift with writer/director Adam McKay’s arresting comedy/drama (★★★1/2 out of four; rated R; in theaters Dec. 25). It’s a strange little amalgamation that totally works: a vicious Shakespearean satire about power-hungry mind-sets, stealth corruption, American ambition and the current state of divided affairs in our country, but also a quasi-fictional go-for-broke biopic about a political leader we really don’t know at all.
Here’s what true, though: Aside from the actual former vice president, Christian Bale, with the help of a paunch and various degrees of aging makeup and prosthetics, is undoubtedly the best Dick Cheney ever.
McKay, whose diverse resume runs from wacky “Anchorman” to financial-world takedown “The Big Short,” admits the guy’s a big old mystery in introductory title text but also promises “we did our (expletive) best” in chronicling Cheney’s intriguing and often ruthless path from rural 1960s Wyoming to the White House, from party-hard teenager to Machiavellian chess master.
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