This 141 minute infomercial is mainly for Reagan fans. It traces his life story from his early radio career to his Hollywood McCarthyite attacks, to his first failed marriage, to battling the unions, campaigning for "Bang-Bang" Barry Goldwater, sneering at the anti-Vietnam War student protesters as California Governor, to trying to unseat Gerald Ford, and to bamboozling Gorbachev into thinking the Cold War could end. Dennis Quaid and Penelope Ann Miller are convincing as the POTUS and FLOTUS, but, weirdly, the story is told by ex-KGB agent Jon Voight to a younger man, who exhibits no interest in the subject except to listen politely, presumably the audience's role as well. Apparently, the KGB knew early on that Reagan would be the St. George destined to slay the Communist dragon, a laughable contention. Omitted entirely is the "amiable dolt" as Clark Clifford knew him and the VP, ex-CIA Director GHW Bush. A narrower focus, say 1980-1988, might have been wiser.

It's not surprising that politics has affected both the release of this movie and fan reviews and ratings. 61% of the ratings at this writing are either a 1 star or 10 stars. All but two of the 18 written reviews are 8, 9, or 10. One is a 1. Usually clumps like that at the extremes reflect a lot of emotion and bias. Several of the higher written reviews reflect at least some thought and explain their reasoning, but many also reflect at least some bias. I saw this movie in an early afternoon showing on the first Saturday. There could not have been more than 20 in a theatre that holds 10 times that.

This is at least partially a faith based movie since Reagan's Christian faith is expressed on several occasions and at least two prominent actors including Quaid are known for Christian roles. Reagan mentions at least once a Calling to become what he was. Nothing is mentioned, that I could tell, about Nancy's reported beliefs in things a little less orthodox.

I thought there was a underlying Message to the movie which seemed to reflect winning the war against Communism. The is emphasized by using the device of an old Soviet Cold War analyst describing how he followed Reagan's career. That this character started tracking him as early as he did allows this device to follow much of Reagan's life, but seems a little far fetched to me. I found a theme of defeating Communism to be odd given that it is still thriving in a least a couple of countries at the time of the movie's release, not to mention the political indoctrination in our schools which appears to have won over many of our younger generations. The movie holds up free speech a few times and yet an increasing number of young people favor the elimination of disinformation, not to mention a couple of European governments. I often think that Kruschev's prophecy is coming true.

By the end of the movie, Quaid's mannerisms were such that it was easy to think we were looking at Ronnie. He did a decent job of delivering several of Reagan's more famous witticisms.

I have studied a lot of history, especially American. The movie isn't terrible as a historical piece but it is a little sensationalized in the sense of making Reagan look good.

Because of the release timing, one can't help but wonder what is the desired impact on our current election. I will leave it to you to decide what was intended, but I think the results are mixed. Neither candidate reflects Reagan's values completely. There are some serious inconsistencies if one in particular is intended, but there may be at least a couple of valid comparisons.

This movie is a hagiography of President Reagan, and whether you like it or not may depend largely upon your political inclinations. The film is a Cliff Notes' version of Reagan's life, but given the scope of his life, there seems no way around that in a movie of conventional length.

The acting is generally impressive. Though he doesn't look much like Reagan, Dennis Quaid captured his voice accurately and gave an inspired performance, and Penelope Ann Miller also created a believable portrait of Nancy Reagan. The film relies heavily on Reagan's actual speeches and is a good reminder of the power of language in politics. As Kennedy said about Churchill, "He mobilized the English language and sent it into battle." The movie suggests that Reagan helped to win the Cold War with his rhetoric and his powerful delivery. "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Setting aside politics, it's an entertaining movie and a good, albeit one-sided, history lesson about the 40th president of the United States. I liked it.