The Apprentice

Gutsy performance by Stan and Strong. Was really locked in for the first hour and 10ish minutes. Would have loved to see a version where they cut like 30 minutes off the end & instead lean into the first half.

The film really works as a dark coming of age story as Cohen shows young Trump his bag of shady tricks. Once that “sketchy rise” is over though, the film started to lose me as it veered closer to familiar territory. More importantly though, we start spending time with the version of Trump we know and see today, which no one is really lining up to do.

I think you get the point of the film more effectively in the first half seeing naive & young Trump thrown into this world & learn the ropes. Contrasted with the second half when it pivots to using a sledgehammer to hammer home “look what he became”. We know what he became. We see it every day.

Worth checking out for the performances alone!