水果派AV

Filled with more one-liners than a volume of Bartlett鈥檚 Familiar Quotations, it鈥檚 like a CliffNotes look at an important time in American history.

Dennis Quaid does his best to approximate Reagan鈥檚 voice and swagger, but he鈥檚 not given the scenes where he can do more than a quiet line reading. He鈥檚 shown from those early years in Hollywood to his waning days on the Reagan Ranch but none of it lights up 鈥� at least not in the way we remember it.

When Reagan debated Walter Mondale, he offered that clever response about age, but Quaid doesn鈥檛 get a chance to play the aftermath. (The real Mondale is smiling in the background.) Similarly, his 鈥淢r. Gorbachev, tear down this wall鈥� speech could have used more context.

Perhaps what derails those moments is an overriding approach that finds Jon Voight as a Russian spy telling the Reagan story to a prot茅g茅. Like a TED talk, his hit-and-miss account includes film, slides, maps and charts, but they鈥檙e unnecessary. They鈥檙e also loaded with speculation.

Director Sean McNamara would have been wiser to extract a segment of Reagan鈥檚 life and tell that thoroughly. An 鈥淥ppenheimer鈥� approach might have helped us understand the man a little more.

Using a number of performers with varying acting styles hinders the result, too. Penelope Ann Miller (as Nancy) appears to be in a different movie than Pat Boone (as a religious leader) or Dan Lauria (as Tip O鈥橬eill). Lesley-Anne Down checks in as Margaret Thatcher, but she鈥檚 hardly a threat to Meryl Streep (who played her in 鈥淚ron Lady鈥�) or Gillian Anderson (who had the honors in 鈥淭he Crown鈥�). There鈥檚 a quick segment with first wife Jane Wyman (Mina Suvari) but it鈥檚 not accorded enough attention to understand what impact that had on him. The Reagan children are MIA, for the most part 鈥� even though we remember the role they played in a number of aspects of the former president鈥檚 life.

While Quaid is good at the outdoorsy, rough-and-tumble Reagan, he鈥檚 not as comfortable in meetings, particularly when he鈥檚 squaring off with other world leaders. There are plenty of those encounters but most serve as markers in Voight鈥檚 timeline, not seminal moments in a presidency.

A section about his work as president of the Screen Actors Guild is interesting, but it isn鈥檛 fleshed out enough to understand how that step translated into governor of California.

McNamara handles the assassination attempt on Reagan with skill and taste but glosses over why John Hinckley was doing it.

A piecemeal approach is hardly the way to approach a politician who shifted the direction of his party. There鈥檚 a lot to unearth here but 鈥淩eagan鈥� doesn鈥檛 want to be groundbreaking. It settles for stirring a little soil, not moving a lot of dirt.