“Reagan” Biopic is Syrupy and Entertaining

Many people will respond to a movie like Reagan based on their opinion of the man himself. The presidential biopic starring an immersed Dennis Quaid is an undoubted piece of cinematic hero-worship. It’s a film aimed at conservative audiences and features Jon Voight, Robert Davi, and Kevin Sorbo to show off its Hollywood Republican bonafides. The film exceeded expectations with moviegoers. It has also outperformed other presidential films (not adjusted for inflation) by more renowned directors with larger marketing budgets. It’s not really a surprise there is a market for this type of film.

Predictably, it provoked accusations of being a propaganda piece and has been flogged by many film critics. As of this writing, it has a score of 18% on Rotten Tomatoes. Sure, there are legitimate criticisms of the film. Any person can like, dislike, love, or despise any movie for any reason, but I cannot help but speculate that some critics’ assessment takes politics into account.

I am not particularly fond of the 40th president’s affinity for recreational drug prohibition, deficit spending, interventionism, and other things. Humorist PJ O’Rourke observed, “The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then they get elected and prove it,” and Ronald Reagan is that archetype. Despite being a bit sentimental and pandering, I found Reagan to be a very entertaining, old-fashioned piece of saccharine moviemaking.

The film’s story is framed by Voight’s character, Viktor Petrovich, a former Soviet spy living in the present. He is asked by a young Russian official (Alex Sparrow) about the fall of the Soviet Union. The man Petrovich holds responsible for the Soviet Union’s demise is one Ronald Wilson Reagan, who he has kept an eye on for several decades.

Reagan’s life is then recounted, with Petrovich insisting that the man could be a threat to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics at almost every step of his ascent to the American presidency. As head of the Screen Actors Guild, he combats the communists working in the film industry. Feeling the Democratic Party no longer represents his values, he becomes Republican. With his acting career running out of steam, he turns to politics. He campaigned for Barry Goldwater before being elected Governor of California. He is cast in his biggest role yet when he is elected Commander in Chief and takes on the communists on the world stage.

Dennis Quaid (Innerspace, The Day After Tomorrow) gives it his all as President Reagan, playing him with an earnest, aww-shucks positivity that James Stewart and Henry Fonda exhibited in some of their characters. The film could have been easily titled Mr. Reagan Goes to Washington. Quaid, who has been a reliable presence in Hollywood going back decades, elevates the production.

He surrounds himself with a capable supporting cast. Voight (Midnight Cowboy, Deliverance) also helps lift the material as the former spy telling the legend of the American actor who brought down the Soviet Union. Xander Berkeley (Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Candyman), one of our great character actors, gives an effective performance as George Schultz, his Secretary of State that helped him take on the USSR. Penelope Ann Miller (Kindergarten Cop, The Artist) plays First Lady Nancy Reagan with a tint of soap opera flair, which appropriately compliments Quaid performance.

Reagan is competently directed by Sean McNamara, who directed Quaid in the nice, overlooked family film Soul Surfer back in 2011. A very prolific veteran of low-budget, straight-to-video, and television productions, he puts together this very polished independent production. The screenplay was written by Emmy-winner Jonas McCord and based on the book The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism. Reagan fans will be pleased with the film’s anti-communism and patriotism. Reagan critics will snicker at its hagiographical cheese. But without the cheese, the film would have taken itself too seriously. Reagan needs cheese and succeeds because it knows it needs it to be the old-fashioned biography that it is.