Vice (2018)

  Christian Bale is probably an enormous pain in the ass to work with but damn if he doesn't make it look worth it.  He disappears into his roles, no matter what they are.

The film chronicles the rise to power of Dick Cheney (Christian Bale) from a washed up drunk in Wyoming to Vice President of the United States.  Beside him and constantly pushing him onwards is his wife, Lynne (Amy Adams), a woman frustrated by her own ambitions and sublimating them into her husband's desires.  Cheney cuts his teeth in the Nixon administration under Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carrell) and becomes one of the top political insiders in Washington, D.C. before transitioning to CEO of a huge international oil company.  He is initially reluctant to become George W. Bush's (Sam Rockwell) running mate but soon realizes that the inherent fuzziness of the position of VP is an invaluable asset in consolidating power.

In parts hilarious and equal measure horrifying, Vice is another exploration of corruption from Adam McKay, the director of The Big Short.  Like his previous film, Vice relies on voiceover, fourth-wall breaks, and absurdity (apparently a huge musical number was cut for time but will be available on the DVD/Blu-ray release) to present a more light-hearted look at some decidedly dark material.  I don't know that it necessarily intends to sway opinion on Cheney himself or the younger Bush presidency but it does do more than I would have expected to point out that Cheney really loves his family and actively chose not to throw his daughter Mary (Allison Pill) under the bus for political expediency (he leaves that for her sister, Liz (Lily Rabe), to do when she runs for Congress.)

Amy Adams is probably not going to win Best Actress for this (nominations come out in less than two weeks!) but she is phenomenal in this film, make no mistake.  Bale might finally get an Oscar for Best Lead Actor but it will depend on who he's up against.  Rockwell did not impress me as much as Carrell, so if only one of them gets nominated, I hope it's the latter. 

Oh, and there is a mid-credits sequence that isn't totally necessary but is funny.