Review: Vice

The last of the Best Picture nominees that I get to see, and it's another Adam McKay biographical comedy drama involving a major American 21st century event.

A few years ago we had The Big Short, which I liked but also got a bit lost along the way due to the complexity of the topic they were covering. So much so, that they even simplified it in a comedic way that they openly admitted that the American housing crisis is confusing to anyone.

With this latest project, I had similar feelings afterwards. It already gave itself a steep hill to climb admitting in an opening prologue that the true event depicted are not clear as to whether they actually happened due to insufficient evidence. So despite admitting that in a comedic way, that for me already had it fighting a losing battle.
As the film began, it started off well as they executed the origins of the central character Dick Cheney rather well and had me excited as to what was in store. The corruption unfolding was interesting to see and the development of Cheney into the person we all know was blossoming nicely.

But it felt it was towards the end of the second act was then this was starting to lose me. It started to get too satirical and too obscure for its own good. Then with the ending never really having their memorable send-off, it left me somewhat puzzled.

Despite the problems I had with it, this remained to be a solid watch, thanks mainly to the strong performances by Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Steve Carell. It was an intriguing story with enough drama and comedy in there that I felt worked.

But I still felt a lot was missing. Admitting at the start they don't quite know the full and true story, that alone gave itself a steep hill to climb. I don't think I'll get quite fully get McKay's complex political comedy dramas.
I know there's good stuff in there. But the whole thing just isn't quite winning me over. I just feel the complexity of the topics he has picked just always has me falling behind in terms of investment in the story. I still prefer his more accessible films such as Anchorman, Talladega Nights and Step Brothers. But I'm still kind of up for another film similar to The Big Short and Vice to see if any of them will work for me.

Rating: 7/10