August 25, 2017 2 min to read

American Made

Quirky editing/narration gives it flare, but I can't help but ask if Barry Seal or Tom Cruise for that matter deserves to be glorified for their deceit, decadence, and misogyny.

by Zach Saul

Fair Warning: if you love Tom Cruise or Barry Seal, you probably shouldn’t read this review.

American Made is nicely produced, smartly edited, and overall well acted. That being said I still found it to be a difficult watch. Despite director Doug Liman’s attempts to humanize Barry Seal, and trivialize his behavior I found Cruise’s Barry Seal to be an unconscionable douche bag.

It’s not lost on me that to some extent, that was the point - and American Made is satire - an achievement that I must admit Liman is successful at - as the film is quite funny, and pretty entertaining. The Issue I have with American Made is at times it didn’t feel like the films producers understood the joke, and I’m guessing large swaths of its audience won’t either.

American Made feels juuuuust barely serious enough to glorify Barry Seal as a fun-loving badass who doesn’t seem to care about anything or anyone when an opportunity to earn more money or power arises. In Fairness there have been thousands of characters who fit this bill, and they have made excellent movies I hold in high esteem, but with several important differences. as I see it Cruise’s problem in American Made is that he isn’t crazy or detached enough to be a head case, and he’s not foreign enough (in status, upbringing, or personality) to be misunderstood. Seal is a Joe Shmoe regular guy, or so Cruise would have us believe. Since Linman spends such a large portion of the film focusing on how awesome Barry Seal is (e.g the completely unnecessary scenes with him screwing his wife in the shower), and peppering his abhorrent behavior with moments of hollow sincerity Cruise’s plight feels like one we’re being asked to envy, and sympathize with.

The Good: American Made is fun. It’s the sort of movie who’s editing at times reminds me of The Big Short and Cruise’s homemade video tapes that break the fourth wall are pretty clever punctuation marks. The blurred lines between friend and foe are an interesting commentary on war, and the experience of those on the ground.

The Bad: I think this movie (a victim of its own effectiveness) glorifies a man who made atrocious and reprehensible decisions and its not quite silly enough that the audience/cast is sure if they’re joking. It’s also not creepy enough for the audience to leave the theatre unsettled.