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(More customer reviews)I bought the "The Reagans" DVD about a week before Reagan passed away but didn't have a chance to watch it until after all the funeral ceremonies had concluded. After all the controversy that erupted over the film last November, I was expecting to see quite a horror-fest of a movie. Turns out it's nothing of the sort. Definitely not belittling or derogatory. Instead, it offers a sympathetic portrayal of a couple that left me liking the Reagans more than I did before I saw the film (and I liked them before anyway). There's no reason why this couldn't have shown on CBS. But if you ask me, I think the amount of subject matter covered warranted a far bigger budget and more time on a scale like "Angels in America" $60 million/6 hour miniseries and a cable channel like HBO that has the megabucks and the backbone to allow a filmmaker to make a truly quality film. Really, they were cramming 2 lifetimes of accomplishments into a 3 hr film.
If you hold strong political beliefs leaning right or left about the Reagans, "The Reagans" isn't for you. What you want is either a tribute show with nothing but good to say or a show that's an indictment of the Reagan era, respectively. Go elsewhere to find those films. If you fall somewhere in between and aren't obsessed with political details, you might enjoy "The Reagans." It's an average TV biopic that could've been better, but it does have its moments. It's not the greatest but not the worst either tracing how then actress Nancy Davis met actor Ronald Reagan and then his rise to California governor and then 2-term US president. The real focus of the film is the loving relationship between Nancy and Ronald. Ronald is portrayed as someone who sees the good in people, not having political aspirations in the beginning, committed to his wife. Nancy is portrayed as being forever steadfast, lovingly devoted, and protective of her husband to the exclusion sometimes of their children. Yes, there are scenes where she's portrayed to be influencing White House staff decisions and advising the President (what married couple in America doesn't advise one another?). Surprisingly these are some of the best scenes in the film. Short clips of some of these scenes with Judy Davis were shown in the media last November which led people to criticize her Nancy Reagan portayal as harsh and "mommie dearest-like" but when I saw the scenes in context in the film, there was nothing to support the flak over Davis'performance. What I saw was a woman vehemantly defending her husband from staff who should've known better.
In fact, the best thing about the film is Judy Davis' performance. Great actors can take medicore dialog and deliver it to great effect, and Davis does just that in parts. Second best is the guy who played Mike Deaver. The worst thing about the movie is the script. It could've been, should've been better. Producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan should've hired the writer(s) who did their acclaimed "Life with Judy Garland" biopic or the ones who wrote ABC's "Anne Frank" and maybe even had some of the Reagan family involved. A Canadian newspaper reported that Judy Davis was eager to meet with Nancy Reagan in preparation for her role but she was dissuaded from doing so by the powers that be. So Davis was left to books, videos, and the actor's imagination for her take on Nancy. All in all, a lost opportunity to get first-hand information. If Judy Davis had been able to meet Nancy, her portrayal of Nancy Reagan may have been decidedly different. Considering Nancy Reagan herself was reportedly pitching a film version of her life to cable (TNT or TBS?) some years ago as well, who knows? If the Reagan family were involved, I doubt the controversy would have ever come about.
Advice to Neil Meron and Craig Zadan: Skip CBS. Let them make their own schlock. Make films for HBO where they have the megabucks and creative backing for their film projects.
DVD Extras: There's a running commentary from producers Neil Meron/Craig Zadan and director Robert Allan Ackerman. They tell of how the Reagan project came about, that it was originally pitched to ABC a few years ago as a movie specifically about Nancy Reagan. ABC passed on it and CBS greenlighted it last year but wanted a film to focus on the Reagans as a couple. They said CBS wanted the film immediately for November sweeps so they had very little time to put the film together properly (if you ask me, technically the finished product shows it was thrown together!). It had no script at that point and no research had been done either. An idiotic way to make a film, IMO! They talk of why certain scenes are the way they are or what books the scenes draw from. Towards the end of the commentary they talk of the controversy generated by the New York Times article. Other DVD Extras are 11 extended/deleted scenes in finished form that were cut from the film. Yes, the one with the controversial "AIDS" line is included with an explanation of what source the line drew from with the original version and a version where they tried dubbing another line. Neither version are in the final movie. There's also a short interview with James Brolin.
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