Failed Oscar Campaigns: "Vice" (2018)

Scene from Vice (2018)

As awards seasons pick up, so do the campaigns to make your film have the best chances at the Best Picture race. However, like a drunken stupor, sometimes these efforts come off as trying too hard and leave behind a trailer of ridiculous flamboyance. Join me on every other Saturday for a highlight of the failed campaigns that make this season as much about prestige as it does about train wrecks. Come for the Harvey Weinstein comments and stay for the history. It's going to be a fun time as I explore cinema's rich history of attempting to matter.

Vice (2018)

Directed By: Adam McKay

Written By: Adam McKay

Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama

Running Time: 131 minutes

Summary: The story of Dick Cheney, an unassuming bureaucratic Washington insider, who quietly wielded immense power as Vice President to George W. Bush, reshaping the country and the globe in ways that we still feel today.

- The Movie -

This upcoming Wednesday marks an important time in American history. Every four years on January 20, the country comes together to celebrate the start of another administration. In this case, it's the shift from a conservative mentality to something more liberal. It's a moment where everyone is filled with curiosity, wondering what will happen over the next four years. There's anticipation for the speech that follows, wondering how it will set the tone for everything that follows. Will there be a line on par with John F. Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country?" The only answer is to tune in and find out.

It is still too early to tell how the previous administration will be perceived in the decades to come. While there's plenty that's likely to happen, the question lies in who will want to share stories that explore this era in greater detail, adding some permanent stamp to the discourse. It may be a while before this actually takes off because, as of this publication, there's only been two major studio releases of the previous Republican administration: Oliver Stone's W., and another film from an Oscar-winning stalwart who sought to capture the zeitgeist with a damning satire on Bush's Vice President Dick Cheney. Known simply as Vice, it was the political story that was designed to show how this screwed up world is not all that new of a concept.

The conceit of Vice makes sense from an Oscar-bait standpoint. Who wouldn't enjoy a star-studded movie that tackled heavy issues? Cheney is arguably one of the most notorious leaders of the free world, having inspired greed and corruption along with helping The War on Terrorism become an endless fixture. Considering that director Adam McKay was coming off of The Big Short, everything was looking up. This was the shiny title swooping late in the season to steal all of the glory. Despite being the leader for nominations, it backfired in one way that is easy to sweep under the rug.

It wasn't a particularly well-reviewed movie, at least compared to what generally received Oscar nominations. Many have since argued that it was McKay's worst movie and was a rare misfire. The numbers were decent at the box office and there was a time when Christian Bale was considered the front-runner. So, what exactly was going on with this film from a liberal-minded filmmaker that never quite took the conservative figure as much to task as he could've? Vice remains the anomaly of the season, whose only accomplishment was that it proved people were finally ready to deconstruct The Bush Administration in ways that were useful, reflecting the changing times in a meaningful way. The only issue was that maybe it could've been done better in a more straightforward, less flashy way. 

- The Campaign -

An important thing to remember about Vice was how late in the game it arrived. While it had been announced that Bale would be playing Cheney in a McKay, advertising for the film remained minimal for the majority of 2018. In a time where films like Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book soaked up most of the marketing, McKay remained this curious outlier. This made him easy to be perceived as a dark horse contender, fulfilling a role, not unlike Clint Eastwood with films like Million Dollar Baby. All that he had to do was show up at the exact right time and capture the attention away from the familiar favorites.

This approach worked more than any could assume. Without any critics screenings to account for, the trailer became a sensation and introduced a whole host of reasons to consider it an Oscar favorite. McKay had won a screenplay Oscar for The Big Short (as well as a Best Picture nomination). Bale was an Oscar-winning lead who was known for his gifts of transforming into any role. Amy Adams was someone whose narrative included being overdue for a win. In a supporting role was the previous year's Best Supporting Actor winner Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri) as well as one-time nominee Steve Carell (Best Supporting Actor, Foxcatcher). That was enough of a selling point before getting to the actual film.

It was an interesting gamble. Vice was only the second major movie about The Bush Administration after W., which infamously failed to connect with audiences. There was no guarantee that it would be successful, even with McKay being on a critical hot streak. Still, it felt like enough time had passed and that Bush was up for recontextualizing and key elements like economics and war could be discussed in an elaborate PowerPoint presentation that McKay had perfected with The Big Short. After all, the current Republican president was acting more transparently corrupt and it felt like a good time to create obvious parallels. McKay had initially rejected doing the film because he believed it would be too on the nose. He was eventually convinced that it was the most significant time to do it (especially in a year for many states' Midterm elections).

Of course, the attention was on Bale. He was the lead actor and had the most noticeable transformation. He claimed to have put on 45 pounds as well as do exercise involving neck weights in order to capture his stature. He was also in the make-up chair for hours after shaving his head and doing everything to encapsulate the character. Adams claims that she based her performance as Lynne Cheney on her grandmother. Given that the film also featured closing credits in the middle of the film and other stylized approaches, it was going to be a flashy view of history that was comical, recontextualizing history into something more accessible and entertaining. There was even a planned dance number. He was going to turn America's dark history into comedy. Given McKay's open political leanings online, there was reason to believe that this was going to be a home run.

Then everything started falling apart. After the initial buzz, critics began seeing the film and suggested that it was a failure. While many praised Bale's performance, they weren't as quick to enjoy the approach to the story. McKay claimed that there was rigorous fact-checking, and yet there were still some incongruities. He painted Bush as simpleminded. Cheney's daughter Liz Cheney would go so far as to disagree with the portrayal of her father, even decrying Bale when he won Best Actor at the Golden Globes and thanked Satan. However, one thing was abundantly clear. Vice, for all of its faults, was going to be an Oscar darling. It lead at many major awards groups despite only earning $70 million at the box office. It was going all the way.

There's no rhyme or reason as to why Vice took off in the way that it did. Given that other films like Bohemian Rhapsody also featured a divided response, it was already a fraught year with plenty of disagreements. The only thing that was clear was that Bale was a surefire hit. Everything from there wasn't guaranteed, though it did seem likely given its status as McKay's ambitious follow-up to a major player at the previous ceremony. Only time was going to tell if the film would succeed. Based on everything else, it at least was going to be up for major consideration, possibly succeeding in typical Oscar narratives. Was this Bale's second win? Would Adams break her losing streak? Could Rockwell win back-to-back awards? There were so many reasons to believe in the film even if nobody else really did.

- The Payoff -

On the one hand, Vice had achieved everything that it set out to achieve. With eight nominations, including Best Picture, it was the leader for the ceremony. There were plenty of reasons to suggest that it was still an uphill battle, but it still featured wildcard nominations like Sam Rockwell, who was rarely considered a major upset in any field. Still, all eyes were on Bale, who now had to compete against the front-runner, Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody). Could he win as the sole element that received consistent praise?

It turned out that the Best Hair and Make-Up also received plenty of praise for his transformation, becoming the film's sole win for the evening. It was arguably the only other thing that stood out about the film in a positive way. Malek beat Bale and Green Book was the big winner overall. While both films were accused of being lighthearted and maybe too simple of a read on complicated issues, many figured that they were the epitome of Oscar-bait. They didn't award films that were too heavy, instead acting like they cared about the issues. Many posit that it was the only reason that Vice got as far as it did. That, and the fact that it was a late-season entry that shook things up.

Overall, Vice was an unexceptional Best Picture nominee that's more known for being one of the lowest-rated nominees in the category from the previous decade. Nobody really loved it, as it wasn't critical enough from a liberal standpoint nor caring enough for the conservative. It even featured sequences that were ridiculed for being ignorant and missing the point. It was a rare misfire from McKay, and one that proved the value of star power. It didn't need to be great to be nominated. All it needed was to act like it was important and the rest would fall into place naturally. Sometimes, like with Vice, it was just a matter of doing so at the exact right time.