Vice
VICE (2018)
I’d just had a week in Tenerife, had one day back at work and thought I deserved another break. So I took the next day off and my mate, let’s call him Co-writer, did the same and we planned on working on our debut screenplay together. His mam dropped him off at my house on that Tuesday afternoon and moments later she banged on the front door to tell us that “a plane had flown into the Empire State Building”. We switched on the news, facts were straightened out and the rest is history.
Vice tells the story of the VP Dick Cheney to George W. Bush’ President.
From the off it doesn’t take itself too seriously. An F-bomb is dropped in the opening credits and then on in it’s like a lesson at school with a trendy supply teacher who straddles a backwards chair. The fake ending an hour in saying how things should’ve (could’ve) been exemplifies this cavalier style.
If you wonder why ‘A Star is Born’ can be nominated for Best Film, yet it’s director is omitted, this is why.
Adam McCay is a Cool Dude. His inventive and fun storytelling keeps green viewers completely engaged and entertained throughout. It’s the kind of synergy you get from a charismatic lecturer at university who tells stories and allows the facts to sink in without you even realising that you’re learning. His narrative style harkens back to Scorsese’s Goodfellas.
Also it’s really funny. I never thought I’d find multiple heart attacks so comical! They’re delivered in such a cavalier fashion you can’t help but be amused.
I laughed out loud in the quiet cinema at a Shakespeare sequence. A sheer delight! Hilarious.
The restaurant scene where the waiter (Alfred Molina) explains the governments torture options as if he’s explaining the menu. Brilliant!
The film quite rightly racks up acting nominations. God I love Christian Bale and Amy Adams. And I love that these two and Bradley Cooper have all been Oscar pals for much of the decade. And I’d like to think they have a clause in their contract that insists on wearing a good wig. That’d be swell. What has Steve Carrell done to upset the Academy? How has Sam Rockwell been nominated in the same category as Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone when they hold ‘The Favourite’ on their shoulders and he’s practically a cameo? I don’t get category politics but Viola Davis does and that’s why she’s at home polishing her Oscar and Glenn Close isn’t (yet). Who knew a film about politics would entertain me so much? Certainly not me. I feel like I need to watch it again to take it all in. It’s just terrific.
This isn’t a film that can be interrupted by mates talking, looking at their phone or by the takeaway arriving so maybe a Thursday nighter.
8 Speedy Thumbs Up!
