Movie Review – Reagan

I’m definitely not giving this movie an A because I’m a Reagan fanboy. Far from it. I’m super-liberal, socialist-democratic. I was too young to vote in 1980, and I voted for Mondale in 1984. But that isn’t to say that Reagan wasn’t the president that we needed at the time. And to be completely honest, getting through the 1980s without a nuclear war is cause for celebration.

As good as could be expected

Whoever had the idea to tell the story through the narrative lens of a Soviet psychological analyst should get an award. That was a brilliant storytelling device. Without this narrative point of view, the story would have felt like fanboy propaganda. But with this point of view the story feels more compelling and believable.

Perfect Cast

Dennis Quaid did a fantastic job of capturing the essence of Reagan. He mimicked his vocal patterns, gestures, and facial expressions remarkably well. There should be an Oscar award just for historical performances. He would be nominated for sure. Penelope Ann Miller was also great as Nancy Reagan.

Pacing

This was a longish movie, at about 2h. 10 min., not including ten minutes of credits. Yet, the movie never dragged. The story never lingered too long on any given subject. Sometimes movies like this can’t help but have a stretch that goes on too long and feels like a miniature movie within the movie. Reagan never felt like that.

Envy

As a Democrat, I have to say that I envy Republicans because they have Reagan as an example of a great modern-day president. He wasn’t flawless by any means, but he was a good man who, I feel, genuinely had the best intentions for America and not just himself. President Carter was a great man, but maybe not a great president. It’s hard to find a politician on either side who hasn’t been a self-serving primadonna since Reagan. (Obviously, some more than others.) As Americans, I think we have to ask ourselves what we did to produce a system that continually pushes people of poor moral character into political office.

Grade: A-

About The Peetimes: The last Peetime is the best of the bunch, by far. The first and second are good. The third Peetime is only for emergencies. I tried to have the first Peetime before the 30-minute mark, but there were too many important scenes early in the movie to make that possible.

There are extra scenes during, or after, the end credits of Reagan.

Rated:	(PG-13) Violent Content and Smoking
Genres:	Biography, Drama, History
Starring:	Dennis Quaid, Mena Suvari, C. Thomas Howell
Director:	Sean McNamara
Writer(s):	Howard Klausner
Language:	English
Country:	United States

Plot
A drama based on the life of Ronald Reagan, from his childhood to his time in the oval office.