Sean McNamara’s Reagan biopic, about the 40th President of the United States Ronald Reagan, is one of the weirdest political movies I’ve ever seen. Unlike Adam McKay’s Vice and Oliver Stone’s W., which had a tongue-in-cheek attitude towards the Vader-like VP and his dim-witted puppet, Reagan presents ol’ Ronnie as practically a god among men. The faith-based vibe is undeniable as he talks about a “divine plan” for men such as himself, which includes his miraculous survival of an assassination attempt. But the weirdest thing is that the film isn’t told from Reagan’s perspective, or from one of his aides or another figure in political history. It’s from a fictional Russian KGB agent who speaks in awe of the man who eradicated communism and became known to them as “The Crusader.” A younger agent wants to know why Russia failed to win the Cold War 30 years earlier. Well, because Reagan. Duh.
It’s like Ronald Reagan was a superhero. GOP Man! The Union Buster!! Reagan is played by Dennis Quaid, who at this stage of his career kinda resembles him and has the scratchy voice to match. He’s also in real-life one of those (supposedly) rare Hollywood conservatives still actively working in the biz. Quaid has admitted that Reagan is his favorite President and nearly turned the job down out of fear, but eventually leapt at the opportunity to play the man who used to be such a conservative icon before the Party was…well, turned into what it is now.
To call Reagan “hero worship” would be an understatement. The film tells us repeatedly that he was a man with a heavenly purpose. His every action framed as acting in God’s will, whether it be destroying those godless communists or defeating those heathen liberals.
McNamara has expertly weaved Christian values into universal crowd-pleasers before, with films such as Soul Surfer and The Miracle Season. He’s also directed junky sequels such as Into the Blue 2 and The Cutting Edge sequel that never should’ve been. But McNamara’s worst stuff isn’t as obnoxiously awful as Reagan for the arrogant way it slams its piety down your throat. Unsurprising given the film was based on the book by Paul Kengor, who previously wrote God and Ronald Reagan: A Spiritual Life. Furthermore, the script was adapted by God’s Not Dead writer Michael Mason, who has a penchant for hammering faith into the heads of audiences. While it’s probably true that his faith was important to him, the notion that it was the reason for Reagan’s ascension from Hollywood actor to POTUS and righteous defender of the world is, well, absurd. And yet that’s the idea we are reminded of ad nauseum by a host of characters, many of them key figures in U.S. history who are quick to paint Reagan as an agent of God.
Here’s the thing: if Reagan wants to claim that faith was crucial to Reagan’s life and political career, that’s fine. If the film wants to suggest Reagan’s mission against communism was of a divine nature, okay sure. But there’s no real interest in examining those ideas, just regurgitating them repeatedly. Not only does Reagan come across as one-dimensional, so do his supposed foes. Jon Voight plays KGB agent Viktor Petrovich, who marvels at how Reagan was so easily able to snuff out those pesky Russians infiltrating Hollywood and the labor unions so as to destroy religion and freedom. Only Gorbachev is shown to have a modicum of decency as far as Russkies go. The film features loads of actors you probably used to like but can’t place where they’ve been lately, such as Mena Suvari (quite fetching as actress and Reagan’s ex-wife Jane Wyman), Kevin Dillon, C. Thomas Howell, Robert Davi, and Penelope Ann Miller. Creed frontman Scott Stapp turns up, bizarrely cast as Frank Sinatra, and it’s just another sign that nobody involved truly gives a damn about the particulars as long as Reagan comes out shining. This film will probably play in a loop at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
If you guessed that liberals and basically anyone opposing Reagan are also thinly-drawn, you’d be correct. In particular, members of the media are seen as conniving, with an agenda only to destroy Reagan. Even when he does something as overtly dishonorable as his role in the Iran-Contra Affair, it’s not his fault really but those out to get him.
It’s also interesting that the film leaves out Reagan’s lack of action during the AIDS crisis, perhaps fearing it’ll remind too many of Trump’s equally disgusting inaction during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Don’t want to draw parallels to Republican lack of concern for the health and well-being of the American people. Speaking of which, Reagan’s stance on the failed policy of trickle-down economics is reduced to a lame quip about not taking more than the 10% asked for by the good Lord. Seriously. This is Reagan in a nutshell. Reagan is a lot like the Republican Party now; inflated self-importance and terminally unserious.
Reagan opens in theaters on August 30th.
