The Apprentice

by Mike McGranaghan

The Apprentice holds an unusual position. People who hate Donald Trump are unlikely to spend two hours watching a movie about him. People who love Trump will hate the way he’s portrayed here. So let’s leave opinions about him aside and just focus on the filmmaking. Director Ali Abbasi (Holy Spider) and writer Gabriel Sherman (Independence Day: Resurgence) aim to tell the tale of how a master schooled his protégé in the art of manipulation. It could be about anyone and be compelling. The fact that it’s about a former president gives it extra weight.

Trump (Sebastian Stan) is an upstart real estate developer perpetually seeking the approval of his unpleasable father Fred (Martin Donovan). His fortunes turn around after a chance meeting with Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), a cutthroat lawyer who ensured Julius and Ethel Rosenberg went to the electric chair. Cohn senses something in Trump. They’re kindred spirits. He therefore begins teaching the younger man his rules for success, which include “Attack, attack, attack,” “Admit nothing, deny everything,” and “Whatever happens, claim victory and never admit defeat.” By following these guidelines, Trump soon makes a name for himself in the real estate game and marries his first wife Ivana (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’s Maria Bakalova).

Regardless of your stance on Donald Trump, we can probably all agree that the lessons he learned from Cohn have made themselves apparent over the past eight years. The Apprentice proves captivating in how it shows him getting to that point. During the early scenes, Trump is a sad-sack loser with big dreams he has no clue how to fulfill. By embracing his mentor’s lessons, he comes to understand that he can bull-in-a-china-shop his way to success. In the last act, he fully emerges as a power player, willing to step on literally anyone in order to win. The psychology explored by the movie never fails to captivate.

Abbasi approaches the material with a darkly comic tone at times, particularly in the first half, where Trump is made to seem borderline incompetent. A subtle suggestion exists that he’s very much the idiot Fred Trump believes him to be. That contrasts sharply with the final half-hour, where he becomes a full-on narcissist. The Apprentice features a scene where he rapes Ivana – a charge she made in real life, then later recanted – and another where he gets liposuction and scalp reduction surgery. That arc mirrors Trump’s own, where he went from being viewed as kind of a joke by many people to suddenly having the most powerful office in the land.

Sebastian Stan is excellent as Trump. Rather than doing a Saturday Night Live-style characterization, he captures enough subtle mannerisms to be convincing. The actor makes us feel his desperation to become a big deal. Jeremy Strong is equally good, capturing Roy Cohn’s scorched earth personality in a chilling manner. Scenes between the stars have vibrancy because of how they play the content of each scene honestly, rather than with a wink-wink approach.

The Apprentice doesn’t really tell us anything new about Donald Trump. Cohn’s influence on him is well documented, and the fruits of that influence have long been on display for everyone to see. That said, if you’re inclined to see their dynamic dramatized onscreen, the film is well made and entertaining, thanks to its rapid-fire pace and strong acting.

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