The Assassination of Richard Nixon (Niels Mueller, 2004)

Don Cheadle and Naomi Watts, set up a solid foundation for Sean Penn’s character study of Samuel J. Bicke—a classic “loser” whose marriage is floundering and who just can’t quite connect with the expectations of the culture surrounding him. We step into Bicke’s life just as it’s looking like he might buck the trend of screw ups. He’s working as a salesman and doing well; the this false security net soon is pulled out from under him and we watch as his job, his marriage, his dreams are eaten up until there’s no one left to blame but Richard Nixon. There’s no doubt of Penn’s abilities to conjure up complex characters like Bicke. The film is cleverly written, well crafted cinematically, but the subject matter is rather dour and there’s not much hope at all for the characters you meet in this film. While this is a technically excellent film, there is not much in the line of its characters with which we connect with. It’s hard to have sympathy for anyone in this film other than the ill-fated passengers on the plane that Bicke boards at the close of the film. Bottom line, worth seeing for Penn’s portrayal, clever writing, interesting cinematography; an uplifting or inspiring film, however, this is not.