The Apprentice Review: Donald Trump’s Unnecessary, Volatile Rise to Fame

   October 9, 2024
Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong in The Apprentice (2024)
Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan in The Apprentice (2024), directed by Ali Abbasi

The Apprentice Movie Review

Telling the origin story of Donald Trump is about as bold as you can go in the film industry in 2024. After all, with every passing news article and headline indicting or accusing the former president of another crime, my intrigue wanes more and more. It’s not that there haven’t been highly publicized origin stories in the past about destructive people tearing apart the world around them, but there’s never been one as difficult as The Apprentice to leave your preconceived biases at the front door.

And yet, with the mixed reaction from Cannes and inability for The Apprentice to find distribution in the United States for quite some time after, I still wanted to check it out. Sebastian Stan is the actor playing the central character, and there hasn’t been a more awkward/fascinating pairing of actor and character that I can remember in quite some time. And Director Ali Abbasi oversaw the production of the movie, which is an equally fascinating choice because he’s an international filmmaker choosing to tell this story and release it only a month before Americans head to the polls to decide the next election.

I’ll state right up front that I didn’t care much for The Apprentice. After a point, it just becomes stylistic flare and pastiche more than anything. Trump’s characterization is two-faced, first as a product of a conservative political giant named Roy Cohn, and then as a slimy businessman capable of some of the harshest atrocities imaginable. Admittedly, I’m not a supporter of the man who once tried to overthrow the American government, but even I struggled to bridge the gap between meandering nepo baby to powerful, successful New Yorker who seemingly put all the pieces together.

And maybe that’s a product of the biopic narrative arch and telling a story about a living human being vs. the creative freedom offered by telling a fictional story. I’m less focused on the accuracy and intent with a fictional story than one attempting to examine the world through a significant figure in history’s perspective. The emotions translate through the screen more effectively in a fictional story, whether that be empathy, hatred, or contempt, because you’re less focused on the facts.

Sebastian Stan has the shape and appearance to mimic Donald Trump. His imitation gets better as the film goes on as Stan adopts the mannerisms that have come to be associated with the infamous businessman. His physique is a bit stilted towards the beginning of The Apprentice, but it rounds into shape as Trump begins to become a major figure in the hostile New York City business community. But it’s always hard to shake the fact that Sebastian Stan doesn’t have the vocal tenor of Donald Trump, and that his impression lacks the accurate tone and inflection that made many late night show hosts and impersonators famous during his first term as president.

Which makes it hard for Stan to convey any emotion or conviction as the central character. The entire time, you’re caught up in wondering if the performance is good, not whether the character is meant to be empathetic or a summation of the ruthless world around him. The synthesis of his character isn’t there because the performance never gets past mere cosplay. Stan isn’t terrible as Trump because playing arguably the most famous American during a pivotal election year is quite possibly the tallest mountain to climb, but he doesn’t succeed in the part either.

Which is why Jeremy Strong‘s performance as Roy Cohn is infinitely more powerful, staggering, and somehow saddening. Because while it seems impossible to be empathetic towards the cutthroat lawyer that taught Trump many of his worst beliefs as a powerful, maniacal businessman-turned-president, Strong imbues a sense of regret and hardship in an otherwise heartless character. It speaks less to Cohn’s effects on the world and more to Strong’s innate ability to play shitheads with an emotionally broken inner self.

The Apprentice works less as a serious drama and more as a stylistic detour into the underbelly of what makes the rich and famous churn. It’s nastiness ultimately works against it, as well as the current lens that the entire story is framed through (Make America Great Again is painfully alluded to several times throughout, as well as Donald Trump’s playful one-liner about running for president), but there is enough technical and stylistic work from Ali Abbasi and crew to make this some highly artistic, but trashy, melodrama. After all, I needed my fix of Succession 2.0.

Score: 5/10

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