Film Review: ‘The Apprentice’ Might Have Same Effect as Mary L. Trump’s Memoir

Jeremy Strong (left) and Sebastian Stan (right) star in “The Apprentice” (Photo courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment).

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(“The Apprentice” trailer courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment)

The movie “The Apprentice” might not get labeled as the October surprise during this 2024 presidential election season.

However, it is hard to see it not having an impact on the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

Without becoming a hit-piece or caricature driven, though, “The Apprentice” shows how a somewhat decent human being can become a monster because of the influence of others.

Additionally, the film shows how art is being used to warn potential voters about the man that might once again become president of the United States.

Leading up to the 2020 presidential election, many people had grown tired of Trump’s erratic behavior in the White House.

He had become so unpopular amongst some groups of people that his own niece Mary L. Trump, a licensed psychologist, penned a memoir about her powerful uncle entitled Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created The World’s Most Dangerous Man.

After the publication of the best-selling book, the then-president and his children immediately dismissed the narrative in the book, claiming that they hardly ever saw their book-writing relative.

Likewise, before “The Apprentice” hit nationwide theaters, the Trump team criticized the film about him and his one-time mentor Roy Cohn, labeling it as election interference.

But after watching “The Apprentice,” the film could easily piggyback off Mary Trump’s book title with the tagline line, “how a treacherous influencer turned a man from dangerous to pure evil.”

Despite that assertion, “The Apprentice” is not presented in a way to degrade the former president or hurt his chances of becoming the president again.

It is more of film on how the former commander-in-chief got the way that he is.

And at times, Trump can even be seen as a sympathetic figure in “The Apprentice” because many people do not start out bad, not even him.

But when aspirations begin to erase away morality, chaos and destruction can be the only result.

In “The Apprentice,” the Trump family is on the cusp of arriving within the New York City social scene.

Although the family does not come from old Manhattan money, thanks to Fred Trump’s real estate career, the family is sitting on a pretty penny.

Donald (Sebastian Stan) has even gotten admitted into an elite social circle that allows him to rub elbows with all the big-time movers and shakers in “The Big Apple.”

Despite the social acceptance that Donald is beginning to receive, he still has some problems that could threaten the empire that his family has built.

The NAACP has sued his father’s company for not renting to African-Americans for racist reasons.

Although Fred Trump scoffs at the idea of him being a racist, after all he has an African-American driver, the lawsuit could bring the destruction to everything that they have created if they do not hire the right lawyer.

Therefore, Donald convinces his father to hire Cohn (Jeremy Strong, “Succession”), even though Fred (Martin Donovan) hates the man.

Almost immediately, Roy takes a liking to Donald.

He takes the case and takes young Donald under his wings.

In “The Apprentice,” Roy teaches Donald three rules to life.

The first rule is to attack, attack, attack.

The second rule is to admit nothing and deny everything.

And the third rule is no matter what happens, claim victory and never accept defeat.

In addition to the three rules, Roy teaches Donald that America is a nation of men, not laws.

Therefore, there is no such thing as right and wrong.

There is no morality.

There is no truth.

And the only thing that matters is winning.

Those rules help Donald take his father’s successful real estate company to new heights when he decides to invest in hotels and casinos.

But it also informs how he sees politics, democracy and the United States Constitution, which is the scary part of Roy’s influence.

When one uses those principles in business, it does not impact the world necessarily.

But as Mary Trump would say, when one has those principles, it makes that person the most dangerous person in the world.

“The Apprentice” is wonderfully shot.

The grimey and dirty 1970s looks like the grungy 1970s.

But when the decade turns to the more opulent and flamboyant 1980s, “The Apprentice” looks like that as well.

Marvelously, “The Apprentice” begins with sounds and images of former President Richard Nixon, the president many critics compare Trump to the most.

And it explains how a person could become what Nixon said he was not and that was a crook via unchecked ambition and no moral compass.

At the private social club where he meets Roy, Donald’s date asks him why he cares so much about the people in the room?

When some people want acceptance by the elite, they will do anything and everything to prove their worth.

Many of Trump’s critics claim the fact that he was never truly accepted by the Manhattan elite made him yearn for love and acceptance his entire professional life.

He always wanted acceptance and love, which is something he now has from his supporters.

And he always wanted to be a winner because as Cohn taught him there are only two types of people, killers (winners) and losers.

One scene that is not a winner is a violent one that occurs towards the end of “The Apprentice.”

As bad as Trump appears, one can only hope that he is not that bad.

Although “The Apprentice” will have a built-in fanbase and a bunch of detractors, the film wins because Stan plays him straight-up and not in a way that mocks him or his voice that his become so famous over the years.

“The Apprentice” somewhat humanizes Trump, for better or worse, showing him as halfway humble and ambitious young man who let ambition and aspiration transform him into a ruthless and arrogant threat to the world.

And when one looks at his role models, from family members to mentors, it is no surprise that he turned out the way he did.

 

REGAL RATINGS

FOUR CROWNS=EXCELLENT

THREE CROWNS=GOOD

TWO CROWNS=AVERAGE

ONE CROWN=POOR

Todd A. Smith
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