Reagan (2024) ShowBiz Direct/Drama RT: 135 minutes Rated PG-13 (violent content) Director: Sean McNamara Screenplay: Howard Klausner Music: John Coda Cinematography: Christian Sebaldt Release date: August 30, 2024 (US) Cast: Dennis Quaid, Penelope Ann Miller, Jon Voight, Mena Suvari, Alex Sparrow, C. Thomas Howell, Amanda Righetti, Justin Chatwin, Kevin Sorbo, Lesley-Anne Down, Xander Berkeley, Jennifer O’Neill, Trevor Donovan, David Henrie, Kevin Dillon, Robert Davi, Nick Searcy, Ryan Whitney, Dan Lauria, Marshall R. Teague, Mark Moses, Rachel Cannon, Scott Stapp, Olek Krupa, Darci Lynne, Pat Boone, Elya Baskin, Mark Kubr, Derek Richardson, Randy Wayne, Moriah Smallbone, Sean Hankinson, Hideo Kimura, Chris Massoglia, Skip Schwink.
Rating: **
I’ve talked with a few people about the biopic Reagan in the weeks leading to its release and they’d always say that lead actor Dennis Quaid looks nothing like the former US President. I’d always counter that Anthony Hopkins looks nothing like Richard Nixon, but he did an excellent job playing him in Oliver Stone’s 1995 film. Quaid’s portrayal of the 40th President isn’t on that level, but neither is the movie about his life.
I’m just going to come out and say it. Reagan is extremely biased in Ronald Reagan’s favor. It’s less a biopic than it is a hagiography that sings Ronnie’s praises while all but ignoring his faults. I expected as much. It’s an MJM Entertainment production, an outfit that specializes in Christian movies. It figures they’d fund a film about an ultra-conservative President as long as it makes him look good. That’s exactly what director Sean McNamara (Soul Surfer) does by showing how Reagan ultimately brought about the downfall of the Soviet Union (?!) while not showing us how he blatantly ignored the AIDS crisis during his Presidency.
Like most biopics, Reagan opens with a significant event in the subject’s life. In this case, it’s the attempt on his life on March 30, 1981. He was leaving the Washington Hilton after a speaking engagement when John Hinckley Jr. shot him along with Press Secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a Washington D.C. police officer. You’d think this would serve as the framework for the film, but it doesn’t. Instead, Reagan’s life story is told by a former KGB agent (Voight, Deliverance) to a young politician (Sparrow, Space Force) who wants to know why the Soviet Union fell.
The KGB guy explains his job was to profile people who could become threats, people like Ronald Reagan. He takes us through his life beginning with his childhood in Dixon, IL where was raised by a devoutly religious mother and alcoholic father. He goes on to recount the significant events in the future President’s life: his time in Hollywood, first as an actor then SAG president (and FBI informant) where he waged a war against Communists in the entertainment industry; the end of his first marriage to actress Jane Wyman (Suvari, American Beauty) and second marriage to Nancy Davis (Miller, Carlito’s Way); the beginning of his political career and ultimately, the White House years (1981-89).
The film Reagan isn’t uninteresting. It held my attention throughout. Quaid delivers a somewhat convincing performance as Reagan. He might not resemble him all that closely, but he definitely sounds like him. I lost count of how many times he says “well”. As Nancy, his wife and most ardent supporter, Miller is very good. She advocates for him throughout his life from his runs for office to his fight with Alzheimer’s at the end. The supporting cast is rather eclectic. It includes former Brat Packer C. Thomas Howell (The Outsiders) as Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, Robert Davi (Die Hard) as Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, Lesley-Anne Down (North and South) as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Kevin Dillon (The Blob) as studio head Jack L. Warner and Jennifer O’Neill (Summer of ’42) as the older version of Reagan’s mother Nelle. Given the movie’s religious roots, Kevin Sorbo (TV’s Hercules) and singer Pat Boone show up to the party too. Oh yeah, look for AGT winner and ventriloquist Darci Lynne as a swimmer saved by lifeguard Reagan.
Reagan might be interesting, but it is not balanced. It is extremely one-sided. McNamara and writer Howard Klausner (Space Cowboys) do a lot of cherry picking here. They don’t talk about Reagan’s failures of faults, just his accomplishments as a feared Commie fighter and fix-it President. The whole Iran-Contra affair is especially mishandled. He nearly got impeached because of it, but the movie treats it like it was no big deal. It also sweeps the AIDS crisis under the rug. It’s okay though, it makes sure we all see Reagan’s famous “tear down the wall” speech that led to the taking down of the Berlin Wall in 1989. As for Ronnie being directly responsible for the dissolution of the USSR, that’s a reach.
All in all, Reagan isn’t a bad biopic. It’s a biopic that’s badly handled. It’s not objective at all. A couple of the people I talked to mentioned Oliver Stone, saying he would have been a better choice of directors. Maybe so, but wouldn’t it be just as biased in the other direction? He did a real number on Nixon and George W. Bush; isn’t it reasonable to assume he’d do the same to Ronnie? Think about it.
