Much has been written about the new Trump biopic, The Apprentice, although little of it has been about the actual film. To say the new feature from director Ali Abbasi depicting Donald Trump’s rise to power in 1970s and ’80s New York presents the former president in an unflattering light would be like saying Orson Welles was a little harsh on William Randolph Hearst.
Consequently, Trump threatened litigation in May after the film premiered at Cannes, where it received an eight-minute standing ovation but failed to take home any awards. A spokesman for Trump’s presidential campaign described it as “pure malicious defamation.” A Trump attorney sent a cease-and-desist letter to those behind the film in an effort to block its release, although ultimately, the movie found distribution and hit theaters Oct. 11 to the chagrin of its subject.
Controversy aside, a question remains: “Is The Apprentice a good film?” Does it have a compelling narrative? Is it well-acted? Does the director show talent? Or is it nothing more than a preachy mess?
Well, narratively, The Apprentice, in many ways, emulates your standard Martin Scorsese film minus the explicit violence. The film begins with a young Trump (Sebastian Stan) with a fake-it-till-you-make-it attitude in ’70s New York, enthralled by those with money and power but largely on the outside looking in. He works for his father in real estate. Some of their business practices may be unethical, if not illegal. They have some money. Yet, they’re not quite taken seriously by the city’s elites.
This begins to change when Trump is taken under the wing of Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), an attorney with ties to prominent figures in politics, business, and organized crime. Under Cohn’s tutelage, Trump learns the Machiavellian tactics needed to succeed in the world he wants to master. While doing so, he grows increasingly amoral and casually cruel.
Like many Scorsese films, there is also a side plot in which the protagonist pursues a love interest who initially seems just out of reach but soon falls for the protagonist’s charm and later suffers for it. Here it is Ivana Zelnickova (Maria Bakalova), whom Trump eventually marries and to whom he is the cruelest.
As for the acting, Stan, Strong, and Bakalova all give solid performances, even if Stan’s makeup sometimes makes him look like comedian Jimmy Fallon impersonating Trump in a Saturday Night Live sketch.
Furthermore, Abbasi shows real style of his own, making The Apprentice more than just a serviceable Scorsese imitation. Watching the The Apprentice often feels like viewing a film of the ’70s if not a news program from the ’80s imbued with a surrealistic quality as just the right scenes are bathed in lights of devilish red or cold, uncaring blue.
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However, the film is far from perfect. It meanders in the final act as it searches for an appropriate endpoint. Abbasi also tries too hard to include every rumored Trump foible and bit of tabloid trivia from the covered period, even when it serves no obvious narrative purpose. Depicting Trump as a criminal and including a much talked about rape scene involving Ivana definitely serve the story, even if untrue.
Depicting Trump as a germophobe with an amphetamine addiction says something about the character’s mindset and motivations. But regular reminders Trump is self-conscious about his weight, a rant about how unhealthy exercise is, and allusions to him not being good with children or dogs are distracting overkill that makes Abassi look like he just couldn’t help himself. He would have been better off creating his own Charles Foster Kane.
Daniel Nuccio is a Ph.D. student in biology and a regular contributor to the College Fix and the Brownstone Institute.