‘You create your own reality. Truth is a malleable thing…’
Not to get political early on, but one of the reasons it’s taken me a while to get around to this Donald Trump biopic is that I’m sick of seeing the guy. As a European, I have very little interest in who sits in the Oval Office and yet Trump is everywhere it seems. It’s also difficult to make a compelling film about someone who has had no arc. He was born an entitled, insecure douchebag and he remains one throughout the events of this film and beyond. Director Ali Abbasi attempts to circumnavigate this problem by presenting us with Trump’s toxic relationship with notorious American lawyer, Roy Cohn…
We begin with Trump (Sebastian Stan) as an uncertain young man trying to find his way in the world by attempting to step out of his father’s (Martin Donovan) considerable shadow with the help of the Palpatine-esque Cohn (Jeremy Strong) and ends with Trump negotiating the publication of his non-fiction book The Art of the Deal.
One thing not in doubt is the ability of Stan in the titular role. He avoids slipping into parody and instead succeeds in making Trump into (just about) an actual human being rather than a caricature. His portrayal becomes subtly closer to the human cartoon that Trump has now become as the film goes on, and he captures the various warring factions that make up Trump’s enigmatic and contradictory traits perfectly. Strong is also excellent in making Cohn seem first terrifying, then manic and finally pathetic. The two of them together make for a compelling onscreen couple, and the film is just as much about Cohn as it is Trump.
Mileage will vary with The Apprentice depending on how much interest one has in Trump’s origin story from bog standard evil millionaire to political disrupter or destroyer of the Western world (depending on your viewpoint). Me? I loved the performances, but the subject matter I found to be pretty dull.
