A number of us at NR went on a group outing to the new movie Reagan on Thursday. In the Morning Jolt, Jim calls the movie starring Dennis Quaid “ultimately deeply satisfying for those of us who have fond memories of the 40th president.”
I was a little less charitable than Jim. To be clear, going in I wasn’t expecting the movie to be the next Citizen Kane. And to the extent that Quaid served as a jukebox playing some of Reagan’s greatest hits, there were enjoyable moments — and some that were quite moving.
That said, I think there are several fatal problems that prevent it from being an actually good movie that could be enjoyed by people who aren’t already Reagan fans.
One is the odd choice to frame the movie around Jon Voight playing a fictional retired KGB agent relating to a young Russian politician how Reagan was able to beat the Soviet Union. At some parts, it simply felt too anachronistic to have Voight’s awful Russian accent narrating Reagan’s life story — particularly his upbringing in Dixon, Illinois. But beyond that, it fed into the second major problem — the failure to trust the audience, and the assumption that everything needed to be directly explained.
For example, rather than have a dramatic scene from Reagan’s lifeguard days that allows audiences to gain some insight into how that experience was formative for him, the film shows a montage of different lifeguard scenes with a voiceover of Voight’s KGB man directly telling us all of the lessons he learned as if he were doing a book report.
It would be one thing if the explication stopped at the narration, but unfortunately, it permeates nearly every scene — and virtually every line of dialogue. Every character explains exactly what they’re thinking, or exactly what the filmmakers think you should get out of a given scene.
If you want to relive some fond memories with fellow Reagan fans, there are worse ways to spend the roughly two hours. But if you were hoping for something that you could show that person in your life who doesn’t have much appreciation of Reagan, look elsewhere.
For another critical take, read NR alum Kyle Smith’s review for the Wall Street Journal.