Gunn’s lacking aptitude as a first-time feature director limits the drama that can be wrung out of two men — even these two men — bickering in a room with one another over the fate of humanity.

Jeff Daniels is Reagan and Jared Harris is Gorbachev. And 40 years after their nuclear summit comes a super-stodgy movie reminder that has all the visual punch of a book on tape.

An on-the-nose paean to good ol’ boy diplomacy that’s nevertheless enjoyable—and worth heeding.

Although the film suffers from horrible miscasting, this is mostly a tense, thoughtful portrait of diplomacy that makes history feel immediate.