Should Vice win Best Picture?
Me: If it won Best Picture, it wouldn't be an upset in my mind. It was made well and had great acting, good makeup and costume, etc. But when you take a look at the message the script sends, it definitely does not deserve Best Picture. Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, you cannot deny that writer/director Adam McKay twists the narrative to support his viewpoint and passes it off as history instead of presenting a conspiracy in a way that lets audiences determine the true motivation that led to certain outcomes. To me, that lends itself more as a satirical take from one person's viewpoint rather than a genuinely good movie. Movies should have a strong voice, but the characters and plot should be utilized naturally; instead, McKay reduces those elements to little more than puppets for his agenda.
The wife: No, but I wouldn't be upset if it did win. I left the movie thinking I want to do more research on this. I want to talk to more adults who followed these events at the time, which I guess makes it a good movie. With the Big Short (McKay's other Best Picture-nominated movie), he better presented little-known facts that led to a major downfall; whereas with Vice, it didn't seem to be as factually-driven and instead was driven by a narrative the writer chose. It was a movie more about one man's hatred for Cheney instead of an unbiased telling of a conspiracy. It was more sarcastic and vindictive.
Do we recommend this movie?
Me: Not as much as I would McKay's "The Big Short," which I absolutely loved. But hey, if you want to spark a political debate at a family gathering (you know, because that's always a great idea), this would give you plenty of material.
The wife: Yes. The acting was great. The entire cast did an amazing job. And even though the story was very biased, it was thought-provoking enough to make you want to delve back into that period of our country's history.
The Best Parts of this movie?
Me: The acting was good, though I'm not sure Christian Bale needs to win Best Actor for his impression of Cheney. Sam Rockwell was a good George Bush, but at this point, I've seen enough people try that role that it isn't all that impressive anymore.
The wife: The makeup and the acting were amazing. The way they transformed Christian Bale into Dick Cheney with the makeup was incredible. Sam Rockwell and Bale both did amazing jobs portraying their characters in the movie.
The worst parts of this movie?
Me: The ending. McKay practically parodied himself with the scene of focus-group "testers" who are judging how the movie plays out. He basically sticks ignorant words in the mouth of a conservative to make him look foolish, then McKay's lines for one of the liberals in the room justifies everything because all of it is "factual." The group ends up getting in an altercation, which does sound like 99 percent of the politically driven fools in the world who think there are reasons to judge one another for having different feelings about the same corrupt system because it's full of corrupt people. If his true message was to tell those idiotic people using their political platform as a means to attack others instead of starting intelligent dialogue to grow up (oh by the way, it's not his true message), then that message was completely lost. What compounds all of this is a shot revealing that this focus group was actually under its own scrutiny as some college-aged chick and her boyfriend were watching them interact the whole time. But then the girl is simply bored while looking at her phone, then tells her boyfriend they need to go catch the new Fast and Furious movie. Sure, young people who don't know anything politics need to get off their smartphone every once in a while and actually learn something, but what are we supposed to do, watch crummy satirical movies by a guy who passes off his spewing disdain for Cheney as fact while he rakes in millions of dollars and gets Oscar nominated? McKay sickens me the same way he wants that girl to sicken the audience.
The wife: The story was extremely biased, and I don't feel the movie reached its full potential because of that. It felt like one guy's rant about George W. Bush's presidency.