Vice
Annapurna Pictures | Release Date: December 25, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 54 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
14
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Original-CinKim HughesDec 23, 2018
Dazzling. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranDec 23, 2018
Brainy, audacious, opinionated and fun, Vice is a tonic for troubled times. As smart as it is partisan, and it is plenty partisan, this savage satire is scared of only one thing, and that is being dull. Read full review
100
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyDec 17, 2018
Through wit, surprise and an irrepressible ballsiness comes a scorching humor that neither curdles nor becomes exhausted. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzDec 24, 2018
How you feel about the film will depend on how you feel about politics, probably. But don’t let partisanship get in the way of appreciating another inventive film from McKay, and some truly brilliant performances. Surely on that, we can all agree. Read full review
88
New York PostSara StewartDec 17, 2018
Billed as a dramedy, the film has plenty of “WTF” funny moments, but it’s always laughter tinged with darkness. Read full review
88
USA TodayBrian TruittDec 17, 2018
Exquisitely crafted...It’s a strange little amalgamation that totally works: a vicious Shakespearean satire about power-hungry mind-sets, stealth corruption, American ambition and the current state of divided affairs in our country, but also a quasi-fictional go-for-broke biopic about a political leader we really don't know at all. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattDec 17, 2018
The shrewd, relentless winkiness of McKay’s filmmaking style may have worked better, though, for breaking down subprime mortgages in The Big Short than it does chronicling a deadly misbegotten war. What remains then is the cipher at the center of Vice: the Man Who Wasn’t There, and probably never will be. Read full review
83
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezDec 17, 2018
McKay’s movie is bold and impertinent and perhaps won’t be for audiences that want a film to play by the rules, but his chutzpah and ambition is something to behold. Read full review
80
CineVueMaximilian Von ThunJan 25, 2019
While on the whole Vice succeeds in offering a highly original take on Cheney’s time in office, it does have a number of weaknesses. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinJan 24, 2019
It is a head-spinning shock-and-awe satire that comes in hot then cranks up the thermostat to infernal – a Molotov cocktail of biopic, documentary and black comedy, with a thrillingly short fuse. Read full review
80
Total FilmJane CrowtherJan 21, 2019
Christian Bale outstrips all his previous transformations. Read full review
80
VoxEmily VanDerWerffDec 23, 2018
Even if McKay thinks he’s making a fictionalized Fahrenheit 9/11, he’s accidentally succeeded in making a movie about our split consciousness. Read full review
80
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 18, 2018
In Vice, the writer-director is tossing grenades every which way — it’s a movie that’s ferociously funny one minute, bleakly sorrowful the next. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfDec 17, 2018
The happy surprise, however, is that McKay has seasoned the meat in satisfying ways, salting it with wince-sharp performances and an almost experimental style of editing that creates an apocalyptic whirlwind. For those reasons alone, Vice feels particularly timely. Read full review
80
EmpireAndrew LowryDec 17, 2018
An acting masterclass that neither pulls its punches nor sacrifices detail to pander to a mass audience, this is smart filmmaking from a director who gets better with every film — and a near career-best from Bale, which is saying something. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawDec 17, 2018
Bale brilliantly captures the former vice-president’s bland magnificence. Read full review
79
IGNWilliam BibbianiDec 17, 2018
Vice is a funny and vicious political commentary, revealing in clear, thrilling detail a man whom filmmaker Adam McKay considers one of the most insidious and dangerous political figures of the last fifty years. But that viciousness also makes Vice one-sided, even reductive. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesDec 19, 2018
McKay has made a protest film, plainly seething – a primal howl from a guy who used to just goose howls of laughter. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 24, 2018
As McKay acknowledges in the introduction, Dick Cheney remains an enigma after all these years. I’m not sure Vice sheds any new light on the Cheney story. It places him in a spotlight that continually changes colors and tones but is almost never flattering. Read full review
75
UproxxVince ManciniDec 23, 2018
McKay’s style is both frustrating and refreshing, doing things other filmmakers should’ve done a long time ago but in his own, idiosyncratic manner. Read full review
70
SalonGary M. KramerDec 25, 2018
Bale’s performance is absolutely letter perfect, and he disappears into the role. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinDec 17, 2018
As impersonated by Bale, Cheney the Edifice is too impregnable for McKay to make it — psychologically speaking — past the moat, but the movie does have a firm dramatic arc. Read full review
67
ConsequenceMichael RoffmanDec 17, 2018
The problem is that, unlike The Big Short, he can’t seem to wrestle with the drama, and when Vice takes a more dramatic turn towards its manic third act, McKay’s preaching winds up feeling like Oliver Stone, Jr. All of those meta, tongue-in-cheek quirks start becoming self righteous and smug when they used to be clever and decisive. It’s a damn shame Read full review
67
IndieWireEric KohnDec 17, 2018
Buoyed by a brilliant transformation by Christian Bale, it offers a smart and detailed overview of Cheney’s elaborate ruse to exploit the country’s highest authority, but undercuts its authority with crass and often clunky humor that overstates the nature of Cheney’s villainy. Lame jokes just get in the way when the bad guys are hiding in plain sight. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreDec 28, 2018
A system that’s been rigged for the super rich to do what they want, the will of the people be damned, is not fit for light comedy. Read full review
63
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonDec 24, 2018
A more nuanced Bale portrait of a man enamored of secrecy, strong-arming, militarism, and vigilante impulses can be found in The Dark Knight. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldDec 24, 2018
The film’s light, sardonic approach is a tricky match with its subject matter: 9/11; power-crazed, empty-souled politicians; dark ambitions. It’s entertaining, sure, but a lot of us might not feel like laughing. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 20, 2018
Vice feels like a documentary-wannabe that never achieves whatever it’s trying to do. It rehashes events and information that have long been part of the public record and, despite the abundance of acting talent at director Adam McKay’s disposal, none of the characters achieve escape velocity. Read full review
63
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckDec 20, 2018
Vice is frenetic and fun, flippant and frustrating. Read full review
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