Rating: 
Summary: Trashy, yes...but fun too
Review: This biopic got such a trashing from hyper-sensitive Republicans, but really is as good as any other made-for-TV biopic and the performances are better than most. Judy Davis captures Nancy perfectly and James Brolin is eerie as Reagan. Made for TV biopics always dwell on the dramatic and seamy. This is network TV after all (even if CBS chickened out and stuck it on Showtime). I would never expect something like Paul Schrader's film Mishima (one of the most artful biopics ever made) to show up on network television, for example. And after all, Ron and Nancy were very very eccentric people and just because someone is elected president by a minority of Americans (because most Americans don't vote, after all) doesn't mean they have to be lionized. I thought The Reagans was quite sympathetic and moving...and this is coming from someone who thinks Reagan epitomizes the very worst in the US presidency (well, at least until W came along). So don't believe all the hype and watch it for yourself. Now when will they make The Clintons? That would be a hoot!
Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly good for a made for TV movie!
Review: This film got my attention because of the controversy, with conservatives demanding it not be shown on CBS. Being a liberal who didn't think much of the Reagans, I expected to see an unfavorable portrayal of the Reagans...but as I watched it, I felt impressed by Ronald Reagan, if he was actually the way James Brolin brilliantly captures him (voice, presence, walk). He comes across as a likeable, funny person who is not much for the details and appears to be mishandled by his cutthroat staff members. James Brolin and Judy Davis deserve Emmy wins for their portrayal of the first couple. Its touching to see how much they obviously love each other through the trials of a public life, even if their relationship to each other came at the expense of their children. I own a few Kennedy movies, and don't recall any attempts at boycotting/censoring those, even if they portrayed JFK's infidelity and health problems. This movie about the Reagans shouldn't surprise anyone who has read the autobiographies/memoirs by Ronald, Nancy, and Patti Davis. This film gave me a renewed appreciation for Reagan as a person and president. Conservatives should take note...if this film was a liberal slam against the former president, then it wouldn't have changed the mind of this liberal regarding him as a person. I still may not like most of his policies, but its hard to fault a funny, decent man that Reagan was. This film stands with "Jefferson in Paris" and "Thirteen Days" as must own movies about real American presidents.
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly good for a made for TV movie!
Review: This film got my attention because of the controversy, with conservatives demanding it not be shown on CBS. Being a liberal who didn't think much of the Reagans, I expected to see an unfavorable portrayal of the Reagans...but as I watched it, I felt impressed by Ronald Reagan, if he was actually the way James Brolin brilliantly captures him (voice, presence, walk). He comes across as a likeable, funny person who is not much for the details and appears to be mishandled by his cutthroat staff members. James Brolin and Judy Davis deserve Emmy wins for their portrayal of the first couple. Its touching to see how much they obviously love each other through the trials of a public life, even if their relationship to each other came at the expense of their children. I own a few Kennedy movies, and don't recall any attempts at boycotting/censoring those, even if they portrayed JFK's infidelity and health problems. This movie about the Reagans shouldn't surprise anyone who has read the autobiographies/memoirs by Ronald, Nancy, and Patti Davis. This film gave me a renewed appreciation for Reagan as a person and president. Conservatives should take note...if this film was a liberal slam against the former president, then it wouldn't have changed the mind of this liberal regarding him as a person. I still may not like most of his policies, but its hard to fault a funny, decent man that Reagan was. This film stands with "Jefferson in Paris" and "Thirteen Days" as must own movies about real American presidents.
Rating: 
Summary: A Disgrace and A Shame
Review: This movie doesn't deserve anything but a big fat F. Whoever made it probably never, ever picked up a history book in his life. Not only is it incorrect, it has almost no resemblance what so ever, to President Reagan and his admistration. The dress up is great, sure, Brolin looks exacly like Ronald Reagan, but that's about it.
How dare someone portray such a great President like this, it's an utter disgrace. Let me give you an example: When Reagan was going to Bittberg Cemetery in Germany, it was discovered that there where some SS Officers burried there. "The guys that gave us Auschwitz" - as someone tells Mike Deaver in the movie. When Reagan is asked why he's going despite this, he replies: "Those young officers under those Nazi uniforms, are victims of Nazi'ism, just like the victims of the Concentration Camps were!" Unbelievable! Outrageous! How dare someone say, that President Reagan would say such a stupid, senseless thing. It is the greatest injustice someone can do such a great President.
Now about the inaccuracies of the movie. If you pay just a little bit of attention, you can see, how little the producers bothered doing their research. One tiny example: In the movie we see Deaver telling Oliver North, that Ramadan is a Muslim Holiday when you fast 30 days. Well, check your facts Mister, you fast 40 days on Ramadan not 30. Another example: In the movie we see, Reagan speaking directly to Gorbachev in English. Gorbachev didn't understand a word of English, they always spoke via interpreter. The whole Iran-Contra scandal is so twisted up, it's not even funny. Which again proves, how little those prducers bothered checking their facts, and how little they understand politics. Also, at one point, the movie leads us to believe that Reagan was already suffering from Alzheimer's in '85, which is ridiculous and totally untrue.
What ever happened to the Cold War? What about the infamous "Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall" speach? What about the "Evil Empire" speech? There's hardly anything about the Cold War. Wasn't winning the cold war the President's greatest achievment?
The little there is in the movie about the Cold War, makes it sound like the cold war was won in one day. We have Shultz runing in to the President: "Mr. President, Gorbachev blinked, you ended the Cold War!". What is this some kind of joke? Any one who knows a little bit about Reagan and the Cold War, knows that it took so much negotiating, and there were so many setbacks, until Reagan finally got gorbachev to sign an arms agreement deal, and besides, the Berlin Wall only came down a year after Reagan left office.
The younger generation that didn't know Reagan, will watch this movie, and be led to believe that this is what Reagan was all about. I think it's a crime. They took a great leader and humiliated him.
I also think they owe a huge apology to the reagan family, particulary to Nancy, for portraying her as a mean mother who didn't care about her children, and to every one else in the administration they so falsly portrayed.
Rating:
Summary: Somewhat Unflattering but Not a Trashing
Review: This was a lot more balanced than I expected it would be, particularly with regard to Nancy Reagan. As portrayed by Judy Davis, she comes across as a tough but intelligent First Lady whose judgement and political instincts are sharper than her husband's. If anything, the Nancy Reagan of this movie is a toned down version of the real one. Except for the makeup. Judy Davis, a beautiful woman, is slathered in garish lipstick that makes her look like Faye Dunaway playing Joan Crawford playing a hooker. I can't figure out why her makeup is so outlandish while Brolin's makeup, which must have been much more of a challenge for the makeup artists, is so good.Brolin does look like Reagan, right down to the turkey neck, and he even sounds like him. But, while his performance isn't really bad, he lacks Reagan's natural charm and charisma. When Brolin-as-Reagan makes a speech to a group of people, his delivery is so ho-hum, we can't relate to the rapt expressions of the people listening to him. This is fatal to the film. Virtually no character in the movie comes off completely untarnished except for Michael Deaver. Inexplicably, Gorbachev is portrayed as overwrought and animated, two characteristics I don't associate with him. John Stamos, an underrated actor overshadowed in recent years by his beautiful wife, is convincingly smooth and slimey as John Sears, Reagan's campaign manager. Alander Haig and Donald Regan are played as jerks, which may not be inaccurate. One of the things that makes the movie look somewhat biased is that it portrays Reagan as more bumbling and disconnected than he probably was. It also suggests that Reagan's poor memory, in recalling the facts about Iran/Contra, and even in making the decisions that led up to that scandal, was due to incipient Alzheimer's. I don't think there are any facts to support this notion. Although, the title "The Reagans" suggests that this will be mainly about Reagan's family life, that topic is secondary while politics and the key historical events of Reagan's presidency are the principal focus. A better script could have made this effort more noteworthy than it turned out to be. But, in fairness to the scipt writers and the filmmakers, I think it's important to note that this movie is at times unflattering and, at other times, overly generous to the Reagans; it does NOT boil down to a hatchet job.
Rating:
Summary: Instead, go read a history book....
Review: While Ronald Reagan certianly deserves the recognition of a biopic, this wildly inaccurate and trashy miniseries from CBS is just insulting. Cast in the role of Ronald Reagan is James Brolin. Mr. Brolin plays the part as a doddering, callous buffoon -- a far cry from the warm, personable man who guided us to the end of the Cold War, kicked off a 15 year period of economic growth, and revitalized the American spirit. Although one might speculate on why Mr. Brolin would take the role of one of the most popular conservative Presidents in American history while being married to the venomous liberal harpy Barbra Streisand, one wonders even more why he was cast at all -- he is, frankly, unremarkable as an actor. Judy Davis is a much better actor than Mr. Brolin, but her role as Nancy Reagan is more caricature than characterization -- a cruelly inaccurate portrait of Mrs. Reagan as a maniacal pill-abusing control freak, on par with the skewed portrayal of Joan Crawford in the movie "Mommy Dearest". The movie is a cartoonish mish-mash of false impressions and unsubstantiated rumor, openly rewriting history so as to paint a viciously distorted picture of President Reagan. It panders, in the worst way, to the liberal reimagining of President Reagan as an intellectual non-entity, sleeping on the job, too detached from reality and from his duties to guide the nation. President Reagan was not perfect, and he can certainly be criticized for some things, but he deserves better acknowledgement of his achievements than this tacky hatchet job is capable of.
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