‘Reagan’ Critics Assail Movie On Opening Weekend; Are They Right?

As completely expected, film critics immediately began tearing apart REAGAN like it was a one of The Gipper’s lesser-known B-movies.

Boosters of the long-delayed movie referred to opening weekend reviews as “the biggest gap in the history of cinema” — the differential between critic disapproval and audience approval being 17% to 98%, respectively, per Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregation website.

The high audience score may be a given: Promoters have been active this summer in a guerilla campaign that matched its indie film-style distribution, soliciting Republican and conservative groups around the nation to host preview screenings of the long-awaited biopic, starring Dennis Quaid as Ronald Reagan. Jon Voight co-stars as a likely fictitious KGB spy who followed his career shift from Hollywood union buster to President of the United States (and narrates the film a la OPPENHEIMER). At the time of writing, movie came in at No. 2, just behind comic book side-step DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE and edging out sci-fi thriller ALIEN: ROMULUS.

So how was it? REAGAN’s promotional Facebook Page noted several pans from the usual sources. “Childish,” claimed the LA Times. “The worst movie of the year” according to Daily Beast. And “ham-fisted” (Slate), “wretched” (Boston Globe), “nonsense” (AV Club), and “bloated, clunky, and shallow” (New York City Movie Guru). And the hit-jobs keep coming.

“The greatest sin of REAGAN, though, is not its warped worldview, which is to be expected, but that for a movie about a man who puts himself at the center of a world apparently on the brink of annihilation, REAGAN lacks any drama at all,” a reviewer for the left-leaning AV Club opined.

Ouch. But for conservative audiences, the entertainment and inspiration didn’t come from the film’s artistry or scriptwriting. Rather, the expert stitching together of a tale with which Americans were already familiar made it an instant classic for early audiences. For many responding on social media, the film was a trip down memory lane and to a more optimistic time coupled with Cold War fears. This is where the movie excelled according to The Hayride’s Mike Bayham.

“As the generation who voted for Reagan passes on and the 40th president not being held in high regard by either the media or academia, the film is a well-presented encapsulation of his character, philosophy, and record that will contribute to the preservation of his legacy,” Bayham noted.

At 2 hours and 15 minutes, it packs in as much as cinematically possible — from Reagan’s bullying-plagued boyhood to lifeguard service, and then from Hollywood guild president to aspiring — and later successful — statesman. It was destined to miss a few notes.

“If there is one omission from the movie that I believe to have been an essential part of Reagan’s political rise was [Gerald] Ford’s invitation to Reagan to address the [1976 Republican] convention after the nomination was decided,” Bayham continued. “As much any speech Reagan delivered, his unprepared remarks led to his winning the GOP nod in 1980 and also led to many Ford delegates to surmise they had just nominated the wrong candidate.”

Bayham cheered the highlighting of Secretary of State George Shultz (played by Xander Berkeley), “the largely forgotten man in the Reagan story living in Henry Kissinger’s shadow” and his pragmatism that balanced Reagan’s idealism. Other figures may have received too much attention, according to other observers. Penelope Ann Miller plays an optimistic and hopeful Nancy Reagan in contrast to Mena Suvari‘s portrayal of Jane Wyman, Reagan’s first wife and remembered as a much-more critical voice of his early political adventuring. None of the portrayals in the movie disappointed, including several surprise cameos such as from Kevin Sorbo (playing the minister who baptized Reagan — more on that shortly and why that factors in) and Dan Lauria (yes, Kevin’s dad from “The Wonder Years”) starring as unlikely friend and Democratic House Speaker Tip O’Neill.

Now back to the Sorbo connection: the script was penned by the writer of a GOD’S NOT DEAD sequel and produced by the people behind Pure Flix and Hard Faith, AV Club points out. Christian cinema has had somewhat of a renaissance in recent years, and this movie owes its very existence to the genre. But certain faith movie elements are present, e.g. a sacrosanct treatment of Reagan that pulls its punches. It’s a stark contrast to the triumph-and-tragedy treatment Richard Nixon received at the hands of Oliver Stone, for example. You won’t see any of his nose hairs in a breakneck zoom, in other words, nor does Reagan bumble much other than accidentally overfeeding (and killing) a child’s beloved pet fish. It won’t dare mention the Reagans’ flirtation with astrology, nor cast any other shadow of doubt aside from Reagan’s own moments of diminished hope.

The dialogue is dead-pan at times, despite the tremendous channeling of historic figures throughout (in particular Quaid’s masterful Reagan voice impression).

With a $25 million budget, there are many CGI shortcuts taken, with several background shots blurred. One particular scene involving Reagan visiting his infant daughter’s tombstone pictured a standard black computer-generated font on top of a gray background. But this does not distract much as the audience expected a come-from-behind movie that struggled in pre-production for many years. Reagan’s film career itself was a bust at times — there’s a scene that mocks his residency at a seedy club and a montage of his frequent commercial ad work following World War II.

Christian movie-itis keeps REAGAN from being a more daring film with enduring and outstanding artistic merit. Like the book it was based on, it was a tribute to Reagan and his struggle against Communism in its many forms, from union thuggery in Hollywood to Berkley protests to Soviet aggression during the Cold War — the Great Communicator’s wit and charm being the secret weapons that disarmed them all. The movie rewards that famous charm with a wink in return, but little in terms of wit.

The great majority of critics may be correct in that REAGAN is not a cinematic masterpiece or a classic, but nor is it a cloying promotional video designed to recruit for the GOP, let alone push Donald Trump‘s bid to take back the White House. REAGAN is a love letter to our nation’s 40th president, and one that had yet to make it to the big screen. There’s even a letter in the credits.

Liberals will compare REAGAN to BEDTIME FOR BONZO and conservatives will liken it to KNUTE ROCKNE, ALL AMERICAN (and make their kids and grandkids watch it). Anyone, however, looking for an SDI-satellite view of Reagan and his legacy in stopping the Soviet threat to America will be served well.

REAGAN premiered Aug. 30 and is in theaters nationwide.