If you watch the Donald Trump movie, The Apprentice and feel like throwing up afterwards or you need to take a shower to get rid of that filthy feeling… those are the correct responses to the film. I’m not saying it’s a bad movie, but it will certainly make you hate Donald Trump even more! And he has a good reason for not wanting this film to come out right before the presidential election… It’s not going to make him look good! However, I have to applaud the performances of Sebastian Stan who plays a young Donald Trump and Jeremy Strong who plays the cutthroat lawyer Roy Cohn who took Donald Trump under his wing and made him the nut job that he is today. While the movie will not make you sympathetic towards Donald Trump, The performances are mesmerizing and worth watching. I actually enjoyed the film for what it is. It does give you an early portrayal of a very naive Donald Trump who perhaps at one time actually wanted to do some good and not be a rich asshole who makes up his own reality. But like all simple-minded folk, they’re easily influenced by power hungry imbeciles who screw over society for their own gain any chance they get. That’s what this story is about. Donald Trump was heavily influenced by one of the most fanatical and crooked lawyers in America and who is solely responsible for crafting the image of Donald Trump that we know today … that’s not a compliment!
The best part about the film is getting to see the early life of Donald Trump. He would tell you that none of it is true, but I think we both know that there’s more truth in this story than he will ever admit. For those who don’t know much about Donald Trump and how he got his start then this film is a window into his early life and his rise throughout the ’80s that made him a billionaire. It’s a very entertaining work of fiction that is also heavily grounded in truth. Sebastian Stan does a really good job as a young Donald Trump. His accent is a little off at times, but his portrayal of a naive business man who essentially becomes the creepy version of Gordon Gecko.
And there certainly more resemblance of a young Donald Trump then we would probably all care to admit. But the best performance has to go to Jeremy Strong who does a fantastic job portraying Roy Cohn. It’s perfect casting and pretty darn scary how accurate his portrayal is of the shady lawyer who like Donald Trump could never accept reality, but made up his own. It’s an Oscar worthy performance. The other standout performance is from Maria Bakalova who plays Ivana Trump. She is the more sympathetic character of this whole story. The film is a fun watch and puts together a lot of fascinating highlights of Trump’s early career, but it its the performances that really carry the film.
While it’s a great story, I also feel like this is something that should have been better as a series. We only seem to get the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Trump and his relationship with Roy Cohn. This film really just feels like glimpses into Trump’s past whereas a show on a streaming service maybe in the same style as Succession would have been a lot better. That’s what this film really suffers from… not enough in only a short period of time. There’s so much more to Donald Trump’s story, so much more that should be told and for the world to know about the man who is never grounded in a reality, but chooses to make his own, and the man who really made him who he is today. We only really scratch the surface in this 2-hour film. I praise the performances, but they’re not enough to carry what is a fascinating story and will leave the audience wanting to know more. Even a 3 or 4 part documentary would be good, much like what Showtime did with Ronald Reagan. It’s just hard to tell a story in 2 hours when there’s so much more to tell. But the filmmakers do a great job trying. The film will not paint a flattering picture of Donald Trump and the performances of Sebastian Stan and Jeremy stronger are so good that they really do make you hate the people they portray more and more. I guess that’s the point. It’s a fun ride, but nothing that will stand out compared to what a documentary could do in telling the real story of Donald Trump or even a 3 or 4 season show on a streaming service. But the film is worth watching even if it’s just once. I wouldn’t rush out to the theater to see it, but when it’s only a couple of bucks to rent or free on the streaming service, give it a watch for the Oscar worthy performances of the two main actors.
