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The Apprentice (2024)
Despite some melodramatic and difficult to swallow plotting and storyline moves (a real issue with a docudrama), the 2024 film The Apprentice remains watchable thanks to the Oscar-nominated performances from the two leads.
This is a look at President Donald Trump back when he was a Manhattan real estate mogul, who was actually in a lot of legal trouble at the time and found almost magical assistance and a role model in infamous attorney Roy Cohn, known best for his roles in the McCarthy Hearings and in the prosecution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. We watch as Cohn magically gets Trump out of his legal hassles and is then tossed aside by Trump utilizing everything he learned from Cohn, even his romancing of high fashion model Ivana, who he threw enough money at that he eventually did marry her.
This reviewer had definite issues with the screenplay where, like Best Picture nominee Emilia Perez, initially attempts to paint Trump in a sympathetic light, which was futile. Luckily around a third of the way through the film, the story forgets all of that and begins to show Trump for the sexist, lying, egotistical, hypocritical, bigot that he is who is so quick here to announce that everything he is doing is for the good of the country. All this Trump cares about is power and keeping his own pockets lined. The film actually opens with Trump entering one of his buildings and knocking on apartment doors, personally collecting the rent. I can't picture Trump actually doing that, but I can see him having anyone late or short with the rent evicted without blinking an eye.
Not really down with the presentation of Donald's relationship with Ivana either. The relationship begins with Donald throwing his money at her, which I do believe. What I don't believe is the way the film tries to perpetrate Ivana having no interest in Trump's money, but then it gets real during the best scene in the film where Trump has proposed to Ivana and he and Cohn meet with Ivana to have her sign the prenup. I also totally believe the scene after they're married when Ivana tells him he's fat and bald and what it leads to.
Director Ali Abbasi displays some skill here and makes the most of his big budget. Sebastian Stan, who I loved in I Tonya completely invests in this unflattering portrait of Trump, making the guy really hard to like. I definitely understand the nomination. Jeremy Strong is absolutely bone-chilling as Roy Cohn, a performance that would have nailed him the statuette in another season, but I still think Supporting Actor is going to Strong's Succession co-star, Kieran Culkin. Also have to give a shout out to Maria Bakalova, who received a Supporting Actress nomination for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, who is surprisingly effective as Ivana. Stan and Strong do make this film worth sitting through, despite slight overlength.
Despite some melodramatic and difficult to swallow plotting and storyline moves (a real issue with a docudrama), the 2024 film The Apprentice remains watchable thanks to the Oscar-nominated performances from the two leads.
This is a look at President Donald Trump back when he was a Manhattan real estate mogul, who was actually in a lot of legal trouble at the time and found almost magical assistance and a role model in infamous attorney Roy Cohn, known best for his roles in the McCarthy Hearings and in the prosecution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. We watch as Cohn magically gets Trump out of his legal hassles and is then tossed aside by Trump utilizing everything he learned from Cohn, even his romancing of high fashion model Ivana, who he threw enough money at that he eventually did marry her.
This reviewer had definite issues with the screenplay where, like Best Picture nominee Emilia Perez, initially attempts to paint Trump in a sympathetic light, which was futile. Luckily around a third of the way through the film, the story forgets all of that and begins to show Trump for the sexist, lying, egotistical, hypocritical, bigot that he is who is so quick here to announce that everything he is doing is for the good of the country. All this Trump cares about is power and keeping his own pockets lined. The film actually opens with Trump entering one of his buildings and knocking on apartment doors, personally collecting the rent. I can't picture Trump actually doing that, but I can see him having anyone late or short with the rent evicted without blinking an eye.
Not really down with the presentation of Donald's relationship with Ivana either. The relationship begins with Donald throwing his money at her, which I do believe. What I don't believe is the way the film tries to perpetrate Ivana having no interest in Trump's money, but then it gets real during the best scene in the film where Trump has proposed to Ivana and he and Cohn meet with Ivana to have her sign the prenup. I also totally believe the scene after they're married when Ivana tells him he's fat and bald and what it leads to.
Director Ali Abbasi displays some skill here and makes the most of his big budget. Sebastian Stan, who I loved in I Tonya completely invests in this unflattering portrait of Trump, making the guy really hard to like. I definitely understand the nomination. Jeremy Strong is absolutely bone-chilling as Roy Cohn, a performance that would have nailed him the statuette in another season, but I still think Supporting Actor is going to Strong's Succession co-star, Kieran Culkin. Also have to give a shout out to Maria Bakalova, who received a Supporting Actress nomination for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, who is surprisingly effective as Ivana. Stan and Strong do make this film worth sitting through, despite slight overlength.