Movie Review: The Apprentice (2024)

Genre: Biography  

Director: Ali Abbasi  

Starring: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova  

Running Time: 122 minutes  

Synopsis: In a decaying New York City of the 1970s, Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) is a budding real estate developer still under the shadow of his father Fred (Martin Donovan). Donald dreams of building a glitzy hotel to help revitalize the city, and finds a mentor in cut-throat lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), who demonstrates the ruthlessness required for high-stakes dealmaking. Donald's confidence grows with every deal and he romantically pursues Czechoslovakian model Ivana (Maria Bakalova), but his ego starts to damage his relationships. 

What Works Well: This hard-hitting, behind-the-scenes look at the making of a mogul focuses on the spiky partnership between Trump and Cohn, with both Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong in excellent form. Writer Gabriel Sherman traces a rich arc from mentor/apprentice to domination/destruction, as Cohn imparts lessons from the big book of brutal business but also inadvertently unleashes latent narcissism. The fraught bond between Donald and his difficult father Fred is the other point of influence, and director Ali Abbasi deftly reveals a son determined to surpass his father's achievements and seeking elusive acknowledgement. The fast pacing gallops through a glitz and glamour world fueled by amphetamines, ambition, and a power-couple marriage, and still finds time to probe Donald's attitudes towards flailing brother Fred Jr. and the ravages of AIDS.

What Does Not Work As Well: Trump's challenge with the threat of bankruptcy is only briefly hinted at, and beyond dirty tricks, his penchant for structuring audacious deals is short-changed.

Key Quote:

Roy Cohn (to Trump): You create your own reality. Truth is a malleable thing.

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