I watch few new movies, but when I saw that Adam McKay was directing a Dick Cheney biopic, I knew that I had to make an exception. The director of some of my favorite movies—comedies like Step Brothers and Anchorman—was taking on the topic of US Cabinet history (fun!). Vice did not disappoint.
Going into the theater, I was nervous about what message the film would actually be sending. I knew that, should McKay approach the film with the tone of his previous comedies, it would serve only to depict Cheney as a lovable buffoon, rather than a man whose actions have had serious consequences in human history. Reducing the Iraq War to just a punchline, or turning torture into a comedic device, would fail to do justice to the real legacies of those policies. This does not happen in Vice. McKay blends funny scenes with horrifying ones, making the film at points uncomfortable to watch. He manages to simultaneously find humor in the exploits of the characters and expose the grave consequences of their actions.
The most impressive part of the film may be Christian Bale’s transformation throughout the film, as he plays Cheney from his early twenties until after the Vice Presidency, four decades later. The physical transformation, aided by extensive prosthetics and makeup, is only one part of this. The change in appearance is joined by character growth, as Cheney goes from a young man with political ambitions to a supervillain-esque puppet master whose influence extends beyond the White House to every federal department and both houses of Congress.
Cheney is surrounded by a diverse ensemble of political figures, embarrassments to our political system who keep the film entertaining. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, played by Steve Carell, is an unexpected source of comic relief whose relationship with Cheney may be one of the most interesting parts of the film. Rumsfeld is joined by a variety of incompetent characters in the Vice President’s inner circle, from Scooter Libby to Paul Wolfowitz ‘61 (that’s right! One of the architects of the Iraq War was an IHS alum). As Cheney transitions from an affable up-and-comer into McKay’s vision of a ruthless war criminal, these background characters do the heavy lifting to keep a comedic film from becoming too dark.
Vice is a funny movie, and not just for political junkies like myself. It is unique in its ability to convey that degree of humor while showing respect for the seriousness of the subjects it addresses. Rather than turning the war and torture of Cheney’s legacy into jokes, the film satirizes the incompetence, selfishness, and corruption that led to them. At a time when political comedy is finding unprecedented success, from the popularity of SNL to the growing influence of Stephen Colbert, Vice makes a mockery of our government from a time when we didn’t have an executive branch making that such an easy task.