Johnson Thomas
A docudrama on Trump that flatters to decieve
Film: The Apprentice (2025)
Cast: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova, Emily Mitchell, Martin Donovan, Patch Darragh, Stuart Hughes, Eoin Duffy
Director: Ali Abbasi
Rating: * * *
Runtime: 122 m
This film is not really a life story of Donald Trump but it briefly details his formative years in the real estate business and the strong influence that lawyer Roy Cohn had on him. Based on actual events with fictional elements meshed in, the Indian censor board refused to pass the film as is, and with Abbasi unwilling to compromise on his work the only alternative was OTT. This film is airing on Lionsgate play.
Trump, of German and Scottish descent, belonged to a well-off family that ran a business focused on developing middle-class housing in New York. He had exposure to the company as a child.While in college, he began investing in real estate and, after graduation, joined his father, full-time. Though he credits his father and the family's pastor, Norman Vincent Peale (author of "The Power of Positive Thinking"), as major influences, it’s really Cohn who mentored him to become a go-getter - combative, highly aggressive, and unapologetic. Cohn taught Trump to never settle, always counterattack harder, and never admit defeat. We see the result of those teachings even in his political life today.
Cohn saw in Trump the perfect protégé, someone with raw ambition, a hunger for success, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win. Abbasi’s film basically designates Cohn as the creator of the monster we see today. The film shows Trump using Cohn’s teachings in all aspects of his life. The focus here is on his business dealings though. His relationships with his family and the girl who catches his eye one night, Ivana (Maria Bakalova), may run deeper but we just get to see a few facets.
Amidst shots of 70s New York City, Trump is shown as a guy who trudges door to door collecting rent checks in a rundown “Trump Village” built by his father. Director Ali Abassi’s film unfolds in two parts. The ’70s wherein a relatively naïve Trump (Sebastian Stan) follows Cohn (Jeremy Strong) around and imbibes his philosophies. The second part has Trump rise in financial stature with corruption and amorality playing familiar bedfellows.
Gabriel Sherman’s script fails to be consistent. The first half is intriguing while the second half lacks bite. The time jump to the mid-‘80s, when Trump makes plans to launch Trump Tower, makes it a piecemeal and selective look at the making of Trump. The gap of nearly a decade between the ‘70s and ‘80s in this telling is quite glaring. The movie shows Trump learning to lie, wooing his first wife, Ivana (Maria Bakalova), building the Commodore Hotel and Trump Tower, gulping diet pills to keep himself going, making bad investments, and ultimately shutting Cohn out. Trump dispassionately watches his partner die of AIDS, and we realize that this one-time apprentice no longer has any room in his life for a former mentor. There’s no sympathy here for either.
Abbasi’s approach to this docudrama feels superficial. The film begins to play like a parody in the second half. There’s not much insight here. From sycophant to a megalomaniac, the jump is convincing because of his public persona. The writing does not cover the gap. Trump’s legacy of bad behavior, selfishness, effrontery, criminal transgressions, and abuse of power is a given. But the psychological study is missing crucial links so the learning curve feels hacked together here.
Ali Abbasi uses handheld shots to make it all look real. The set design matches the vulgarity of Trump’s riches. Sebastian Stan’s performance is bang on. He gets the physical and behavioral ticks right. Strong as Cohn is equally effective. The performers all, manage to showcase their talent in a film that doesn’t dig deep enough, and as a consequence feels shallow and simplistic. At best, this is an intriguing take on a conniving lawyer and his would-be-mogul protege.
Johnsont307@gmail.com
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