Depending on who you ask, the new Dick Cheney biopic Vice may be one of the best films of the year or one of the very worst.
Reviews started rolling in on Monday for Adam McKay's newest film, which stars Christian Bale as the former vice president. The reactions were far more divisive than one would expect for a film that received more Golden Globe nominations than any other. Vice currently holds a 62 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the aggregator where a film's score typically declines as more reviews are added.
On one end of the spectrum, Chris Evangelista argues for Slashfilm that Vice is "one of the year's best," awarding it a score of 9 out of 10 and describing it as a "blunt wake-up call." On the complete opposite end, Marlow Stern and Kevin Fallon argue for The Daily Beast that Vice might actually be the year's worst film, with Fallon calling it a "baffling tonal hodgepodge" and Stern saying it's the "most exhausting and frustrating viewing experience of the year," with some of its satire being "embarrassing and awfully reductive."
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Meanwhile, USA Today's Brian Truitt awards the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, saying it's "exquisitely crafted" and "totally works," while Vanity Fair's Hillary Busis says it's "the worst trying-to-be-good movie I have ever seen." While critics overall are split on the film, they generally agree it's about as far from subtle as possible, with some finding this more acceptable than others.
Vice is angling for some Oscar nods this year, and stars Christian Bale, Sam Rockwell, Amy Adams, and Steve Carell already received Golden Globe and Critics' Choice Award nominations. Based on these first reactions, expect the film to become one of the most fiercely debated of awards season when it hits theaters on Dec. 25.
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