The film seems incapable of imagining what its protagonist was like in private moments or ascribing any interior complexity to him.

Reagan can’t even trace the broad outlines of your stock biopic, because it refuses to allow in its protagonist any kind of complicating flaw, and the geopolitical stalemate that acts as the primary conflict is too big and abstract for the frame.

Like Reagan the actor and Reagan the president, Reagan the new movie has a strained relationship with reality.

The result is a film that looks and feels like a parody, becoming at times so absurd it's almost fun.