The Reagans (2003)

Sadly Over-hyped

Absolutely amazing

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

The Reagans is a 3-hour TV movie about U.S. President Ronald Reagan,the 40th president of the United States,his wife Nancy and his family.The miniseries featured James Brolin as Ronald Reagan and Judy Davis as Nancy Reagan together with Zeljko Ivanek,Mary Beth Peil,Bill Smitrovich,Shad Hart,Zoie Palmer,Richard Fitzpatrick,Vlasta Vrana,Francis Xavier McCarthy,Frank Moore,Aidan Devine and John Stamos. This covers the period in time from 1949 when Reagan was still an actor in Hollywood, through his governorship of California until hist last day in office as President in 1989.Despite charges of character assassination that drove made-for-TV movie The Reagans off CBS's primetime schedule, this production is actually sympathetic and even generous in its portrayal of Ronald and Nancy Reagan's rise from hard-working Hollywood couple to First Family. Beginning with their first date in 1949, the story establishes parallel dramatic tracks from the Reagans' acquisition of power and remoteness from their children and never veers from them. The most interesting section concerns crucial political transitions made by the onetime Democratic loyalist and future Republican governor and president though Reagan is never portrayed as an opportunist with flexible principles. Once more familiar details kick in such as Reagan's hard line as California's boss, the presidential campaigns, two terms in the White House, Iran-Contra, his position on AIDS and among other things, the screenplay shifts focus to Nancy and her ascendancy as a fierce player in the doddering Ronald's latter administration. It's all fascinating, and most certainly not a hatchet job.This TV movie would surely be enjoyed by any admirer of Ronald Reagan despite its flaws and shortcomings.

This movie was simply awful!!! First of all, this movie should have been titled. Nancy Regan, as the major focus of the movies was on her, not the former President. No matter your political bend, the movie portrayed President Reagan as doing nothing for the eight years that he was President. Instead of focusing on the fall of the Soviet Union, the booming Economy, restored faith in the country as a whole, it focused on, AIDS, the coldness of Nancy Reagan, and their bad relationship with their children. (This was true to an extent. Interestingly enough, one of the focuses of the movie was Patti Reagan's hatred of her mother and her "love" of her father. If she loved her father so much, why did she take her , mother's maiden name, and openly campaign against her father? None of which was mentioned in the movie. Aside from a typical left wing, one sided view of President Reagan, the acting was horrible. Brolin never had one moment portraying Reagan as serious. The whole movie was Jelly Beans and Bedtime for Bonzo. The movie was pulled because it was terrible. One last issue. The Kennedy movie with Martin Sheen was a total puff piece put out by Liberal Hollywood, but at least in that film, the acting was well done, and the movie was entertaining. The same can not be said of The Reagans.

I'd love to hear what others thought about this movie. Maybe I am more a fan of Reagan and a bigger sucker for hype than I thought, but the supposed bio-film, 'The Reagans,' to which CBS gave the boot, was garbage. A Cabinet-appointed committee should be set up to investigate this bad movie-making. CBS -- and Showtime -- should have given it the boot because it was a rain-soaked cardboard facsimile of Ron and Nancy and a bad movie, not for any ideological controversy. "Idiot-logical," maybe -- logical to idiots. The real controversy is that the movie sucked amazingly well and garnered any extensive media attention at all, short of the kind that 'Gigli' earned, for being a bad film. The only controversy growing out of this bad pic should be a belief growing among conspiracy theorists that the movie's real goal was to coyly reveal that the Reagans were actually robots that went wildly out of control, created by Ron's former employer, GE. The characterization of Nancy was particularly one-dimensional (no, I won't even give it 2-D). The expression on her face through almost the whole movie -- the two hours I suffered through, of the three -- had me waiting for her to pull out a big knife and start jabbing at anything that moved, like the freaky undead Nazi assassin in 'Hellboy.' Like most movies written and produced to leave a bad taste in one's mouth, it was without a good script and strived unimaginatively to make people think Nancy was solely a greedy woman who manipulated her brainless husband into politics. It will die a death like any such movies and TV shows, such as this goofy Henry Winkler show where he was trying to make fun of conservative radio hosts only to look like a dork himself. Add to that list Bill Maher's very existence in the public eye; once an enjoyably opinionated talker, he's proved to be more myopic than most of his guests on 'Politically Incorrect.' Who cares what you think, you silly bio-film producers and writers. "Why can't you tell an honest story, no matter your intent?" That's what I'd like to ask the creators of 'The Reagans.' I wasted two hours of my life trying to figure out why anyone made this feeble movie, rather than trying to recall the good, bad and ugly of Reagan's public life with some sort of relevance.NOTE: 0 out of 34 people found this review useful as of 2008. I want to thank each and every one of you. Judging from the other reviews on here, which got very favorable reactions from readers, I am happily alone in this instance.

Ronald Reagan, 'The Gipper,' a supporting actor in the famous Knute Rockne story was catapulted out of a semi - historical TV show about the old west into Presidential politics by THE SPEECH, a campaign speech in favour of Barry Goldwater in 1964 in which Reagan managed throughout to omit Goldwater's name. Goldwater went down to an humiliating defeat but Reagan professing much of the Goldwater rhetoric went on to become the most popular president of the 20th century.The made for TV bio picture does fair coverage of the meteoric rise to power of Ronald Reagan and does honour to both Mr & Mrs Reagan. It covers most of the highlights well: election as Governor, the campaign for President against hapless Carter, the assassination attempt in which Reagan beat Techumseh's curse, the end of the cold war, Iran-contra affair and the departure at the end of the term.Comparable films: Backstairs at The White House.