Dennis Quaid stars in Reagan – one of the most polarizing movies this season insofar as it’s been neglected by most mainstream critics. Knowing our audience and where the bread gets buttered, we definitely don’t want to be among them.
The movie chronicles Ronald Reagan’s life (as portrayed by Quaid) from his youth through his acting and political careers, up to his Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Oddly – and interestingly – it’s told in flashback by an aged Soviet official (Jon Voight) and his biographer. This is an unexpected narrative choice that could’ve been cut, but it doesn’t get in the way (and gives Voight room to work, which is a plus).
I will be honest. I almost let this one slip by until I learned that Reagan was directed by Sean McNamara, the man behind the camera of Galgameth and 3 Ninjas High Noon At Mega Mountain, and that C. Thomas Howell was in it somewhere.
(You want me to watch something? Tell me either of those things. Howell plays Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, by the way, and shows up halfway through.)
Still, I didn’t expect much going in and when I sat down, the first few minutes had me worried this would be another average-to-mediocre biopic lacking style and conviction – made so that a handful of actors could pick up work and a decent check. But I waited, and then the movie got going, and then it got deeper into Ronny’s political life and really started to cook.
Again, at first, it seemed like Quaid was here to strictly do a job or a favor, and wasn’t going to have challenging material to work with. I also feared he would resort to an impersonation of the Great Communicator, and there sure were some moments of that. However, he found a balance that helped him add depth to the part, especially when he was acting opposite Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan and Aleksander Krupa as Mikhail Gorbachev.
Krupa was another surprise as the Soviet premier famous for Glasnost and Perestroika. I remember Krupa vaguely from Home Alone 3 when I was a kid, although he definitely doesn’t look the same as he gained seasoning over the years. As Gorbachev, he is unrecognizable and easily slips into a role that sees him equal parts at odds with his American rival and becoming friends with him.
You get a good feel for their dynamic and the bond they form, which makes the depiction of the storied meeting at Reykjavik more pointed. Seeing the talks fall apart in a reenactment on screen is like seeing it happen in the room in real time.
If I have a salient gripe, it might be the overuse of dated-looking stock footage. However, McNamara uses it to his advantage and gives viewers a firm sense of each period and allows himself an opportunity to experiment with montages. Doing so, he gives sections of the film a playful music video vibe, and also elements of satire. The passing of Soviet leaders, using the same newsreel of a funeral march, is captured in comical redundancy that got a few laughs in the theater.
Going back to Sean McNamara, he is known primarily for straight-to-video family films and faith-based movies like Soul Surfer. With Reagan, he stretches his abilities and makes something moving and reverential to its subject, but also its constituent parts. From Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan and Aleksander Krupa as Gorbachev to Jon Voight as the narrator – you’ll walk away with a clear understanding of more people than Dennis Quaid standing in for Ronald Reagan.
McNamara has made his best film, bar none, and the applause I heard at the end of the showing I attended prove that. If you’re a young conservative or a lifetime Reaganite, go see this – you won’t be disappointed.
