“It’s improbable but not impossible that we could someday have a psychopathic president...
You could say that such a man would be detected and restrained by his aides – but with the powers of the presidency what they are today, who really knows?” Thus spoke Stanley Kubrick in an interview about his 1964 film , widely considered today to be one of the masterpieces of 20th-century cinema. With the tumultuous American presidential election only days away, Kubrick’s sombre reflection, and the theme of his fine film, echo ever more gravely. What, in short, if some unrestrained nutter got hold of the nuclear codes? Sean Foley, alas, is no Stanley Kubrick.
This director has a dispiriting habit of reducing everything he touches to silliness , which he repeats once again here in an adaptation co-written with Armando Iannucci . Whereas Kubrick has pitch-black comedy intercutting a mood of gravitas, Foley unwisely has occasional serious moments raising their heads above cheap jokes, meaning that those unfamiliar with the film will quite simply wonder what all the fuss is about. If only the tone of the production were more nuanced, Steve Coogan’s considerable industry would pay greater dividends.
He gives a high-octane quick-change performance in four roles, one more even than Peter Sellers managed in the film. It is to Coogan’s immense credit that I didn’t realise it was him playing Major TJ Kong, pilot of the rogue nuclear weapons-bearing plane about to attack Russia, u.