Movie Reaction: American Made

Formula: (Blow * War Dogs * Gold) ^ -3

Tom Cruise is a god damn movie star. He might be the only one we have left. Perhaps Denzel is in the discussion as well*. That's about it though. I don't have a formal definition for "god damn movie star", but I know it when I see it. I think a lot of it comes from the ability to consistently play yourself and have people love you for it. Cruise can certainly act. Film like Born on the Fourth of July, Eyes Wide Shut, and Magnolia have certainly proven than. But, it's Top Gun, Jerry Maguire, and Mission Impossible, when Tom Cruise is just playing a movie star that we remember him for. American Made is another movie like that. It's a movie starring Tom Cruise as a movie star playing a drug smuggler in the 1970s and 80s. It's pointless and impossible to separate your thoughts of Cruise and this movie, and frankly, I wouldn't have it any other way.

*The fact that I only need to say his first name kind of proves that point.

American Made tells the mostly true story of Barry Seal (Tom Cruise), who smuggled guns, weapons, and people for and thanks to the United States government in the 70s and 80s. You'll recognize most of the beats of the story from similar movies. He starts as a small time smuggler. He's covertly found by agent Monty Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson) to do scouting for the CIA in Central America. They turn a blind eye as he starts making deals with - of course - Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel. He makes a lot of money and, eventually, things come crashing down. You can map out the beats of this story without even seeing a trailer, and that's fine. No one is pretending that this is a wholly original movie. The idea for it is, "let's watch Tom Cruise be a movie star for two hours".

I don't mean to turn "movie star" and "Tom Cruise" into a drinking game, but there's no other way to talk about the movie. The rest of the cast is fine, just underutilized. Domhnall Gleeson is fun, but we don't really get to know him. Sarah Wright, as Barry's wife, is completely reactive to Cruise. Jesse Plemons, Lola Kirke, and Jayma Mays barely show up at all. Caleb Landry Jones comes out of central casting for Logan Lucky just long enough to make a mark. The cartel guys are fairly anonymous. There's no one other than Cruise to latch onto. And Cruise guides the film well. The framing device of the film is some videos Barry has recorded and a lot of the film is narrated by him. Both Cruise and Barry are having a great time throughout. 

The most surprising thing about this movie is how wholesome it or at least Barry is. On one hand, yes, Barry is smuggling guns and drugs. Some people die.  Barry is involved in some bad stuff. That said, he's faithful to his wife and his family. He's not really even about the excess of his wealth. His decadence isn't his undoing. He's not really even screwing over any good people by the end. He's in it for the thrill and not much else. Normally in a movie like this, I'm practically rooting against the main character by the end, because everything has gone to his head. That wasn't the case with Barry. He's more of a lucky bastard than an evil prick. Really, if this movie didn't like saying "fuck" so much, it could've been PG13 pretty easily.

I have no strong feelings for or against American Made. It was very watchable. It has a dark comic edge to it and little or no thematic messaging, which is a refreshing change or pace. Director Doug Liman (re-teaming with Cruise after the overlooked gem Edge of Tomorrow) keeps the movie zipping along the whole way through. Two hours is the right length. Any longer would've sagged and any shorter would've been packing too much plot in. And, with Tom Cruise being a god damn movie star throughout, it's hard to go wrong. 

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend