Review – The Reagans

I can’t for the life of me see what all the fuss was about. If anything, the folks who made this three hour biography of Ron and Nancy were far too kind to the both of them. For example, they left out the scene where the Gipper made his famous pact with Satan that guaranteed him perpetual popularity despite every rotten thing he ever did to the country. Seriously, the film-makers portrayed Reagan in the most charitable light possible. He’s shown as a kindly old dimwit, an actor who cracked jokes and dished out jellybeans while the people who really controlled the country committed everything from petty stupidity to high treason. Considering the alternative – that he was a brilliant statesman who masterminded everything from record-setting deficits to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of AIDS victims to the sale of weapons to our enemies – the light that shines on him here is more than a little flattering. Honestly, it’s almost enough to make me feel sorry for Alexander Haig. On the other hand, the movie’s reasonably well crafted, particularly for a made-for-TV production. In particular, James Brolin does a solid job as Ronny. Mildly amusing