Something About the ‘Reagan’ Movie Doesn’t Quite Add Up

One of the most talked about movies of the year has been the “Reagan” biopic, which stars Dennis Quaid and Penelope Ann Miller as President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan. The film had been in the works for well over a decade, and it was finally released on August 30. 

Quaid was all over TV promoting the movie and even showed up at the Republican National Convention. He talked at length on numerous shows about his patriotism and how Reagan had been his favorite president, and he even ended up speaking at rallies on behalf of President Donald Trump just before the election. It’s been kind of refreshing to see a Hollywood A-lister who seems to love his country, especially when some actors like to go overseas and bash the United States. 

But something about this movie doesn’t quite add up. More specifically, reviews from movie critics and reviews from everyday people who have seen the movie don’t quite add up. I’m guessing the reason is that liberals can’t seem to ever look at anything without seeing it as some sort of attack on their political beliefs, even if it’s simply meant to be entertainment. 

The movie review website Rotten Tomatoes is probably the best example of this. Of course, we already know that Rotten Tomatoes leans to the left. But the site offers a “Tomatometer” for movies, which is an aggregate score of professional film critics’ reviews, and a “Popcornmeter” score, which represents reviews left by actual movie audiences. In September, the Washington Times reported that “Reagan” had the widest gap between audience and critic reviews in the history of Rotten Tomatoes. As I write this, Rotten Tomatoes shows “Reagan” as having a 98% favorable rating from audiences, and just an 18% perfect favorable rating from critics.

James Carrick, the founder of the movie review site Worth It Or Woke?, told Fox News that he’s noticed that the higher the discrepancy between critics and audiences on these types of movie reviews, the more likely the critics’ reviews are biased towards ‘leftists messages and elements’ in films.   

The general consensus from critics, according to Rotten Tomatoes, is that “While ‘Reagan’ the movie undoubtedly admires Reagan the man, its cloying and glossy rendering of history flattens the 40th U.S. President into caricature.” Many tossed around the term “hagiography.”  Here are a few samples from some of those reviews:  

Bilge Ebiri, the critic for New York Magazine and Vulture said, “Without any lifelike characters, it’s hard to find oneself caring, and thus, Reagan’s dedication to such narrow themes proves limiting.” 

Sean Burns of North Shore Movies called it a “children’s film for the adult diaper set.” 

Adam Nayman of The Ringer said, “It’s a thin line between satire and self-parody, and more sophisticated directors than McNamara have tripped all over it. Reagan looks a bit like a berserk Saturday Night Live sketch, or maybe a biopic parody à la Walk Hard.” 

Despite these types of reviews, the movie did really well at the box office,  grossing $30.1 million, spending time in the top five, and surpassing numerous other presidential biopics. And it’s doing even better with home audiences. The film was made available on DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital platforms on November 19, and it’s still breaking records. 

Upon its release, it “topped Amazon’s Best Sellers in Movies & TV and Best Sellers in Blu-ray charts over the weekend, leapfrogging past ‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse,’ ‘Despicable Me 4’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy’ set,” according to a press release. Currently, on Thanksgiving Day, it’s holding steady at the number four spot on Amazon’s Best Sellers in Movies & TV list, beating out movies from several popular franchises.

For what it’s worth, not everyone in Hollywood hated the film. Nathaniel Bell, who reviews movies for LA Weekly and the Village Voice, said, “The result is a political biopic with the heartbeat of a faith-based drama — earnest and aiming to inspire rather than provoke.” He added, “it may make liberal and conservative alike long for the days when the leader of the free world could make a quip that would cause even his political opponents to crack a smile.”  

But Bell is definitely in the minority. I can’t imagine a lot of people are flocking to see or buy a movie that the majority of critics say is terrible unless those critics are letting their political bias show and not actually providing an accurate review. Personally, I haven’t seen “Reagan” yet myself, but I’ve heard good things from friends, and it’s on my list for viewing this holiday season. I’d love to hear what you thought of it. Let me know in the comment section.  

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