Meet the Real Dick Chaney in Vice

by Kathia Woods

All the President's Men, Lincoln, The Post, and even The Front Runner are movies made about politicians or the dirty game of politics. What do they all have in common? They are good and have great performances. Now we add to the pile "Vice" directed by Adam McKay, starring Christian Bale and Amy Adams. This movie is receiving many nods during awards season, but the mystery is why?

Are these nominating committees seeing a different version than the one I watched? Here's a little disclosure this reviewer is not a Dick Cheney Fan. I was ready to view the unleashing of the very flawed Dick Cheney; however, I found myself not enjoying it.

Let me expound. We met a young Dick Cheney who was more interested in being a drunk that an aspiring politician until his fiancée Lynne gave him an ultimatum. Straighten up, or they are over.

Is it surprising that Cheney despite his many screws ups goes from College Drunk to working for Nixon? No, it’s that we don't care. We are not impressed with any part of his success. It's merely a befuddled ascension.

Christian Bale is a great actor. In my opinion the best Batman. In " Vice" he was boring. His physical transformation impressive and his accent was spot on, but this is where the positivity ends. He only came across as a heartless man growing old. Amy Adams who is nominated for every supporting actress award category that exists is dull and may have given one of her most underwhelming performances to date. She has portrayed much better characters insert Enchanted, Julie and Julia, etc.

Steve Carrell as Donald Rumsfeld is crass, and Sam Rockwell as George W. Bush is comical. The worst casting in this movie may be Tyler Perry as Colin Powell. That pairing is just horrendous.

The only acceptable answer to such a misuse of talent is that this script does not work. The flashback is confusing, and the satire is of the mark.

The whole movie is just a mess and after waiting for two days to write this review. I find myself disliking this movie even more.

The mystery remains how did it obtain seven Golden Globe nominations? Is the marketing campaign that much better for this movie than others?

The bottom line is that this movie is caught up in the Hollywood Hype machine and is getting rewarded for great marketing not because it's good and that's its biggest sin.

Scale- four for wasting our time.