DISCLAIMER: References to SA. 

The US is in an awful state right now. As of writing a number of climate disaster have left many without basic resources. Statewide abortion bans are forcing literal children and victims of SA to carry the offspring of their attackers. Wealth inequality, poverty and homelessness are at all-time highs. And the US is enabling and funding an ongoing genocide in the country thousands of miles away from it. This coupled with the upcoming presidential elections leaves us the image of the US in pure despair. So, how did they get there? Did America suddenly just fall into fascism? Or is this the end product brought on by the greed of Capitalism? Well, if you were to ask Donald Trump, he would tell you it’s Joe Biden’s fault. 

This brings us to The Apprentice, Ali Abbasi’s new biopic of the tangerine tycoon himself. Now ole Donny is not a person I’d say I was ever a fan of. He’s been outed as sexual predator numerous times and he’s a massive fascist. Trump represents the greater problems in American society all amalgamated into one Oompa-Loompa shaped blob that’s been allowed to run rampant for decades. The Apprentice follows Trump’s journey from lowly rent collector for his father’s property business (doesn’t get that small loan of a million dollars from him though, sad) to being under the tutelage of Roy Cohn, the lawyer famous for his role in the McCarthy Witch Hunts. Cohn shows the young Trump what it takes to be the best in America. He’s ruthless, conniving, heartless and a Bonafide criminal. Trump of course wants what’s being offered and progressively becomes more maniacal and downright inhumane as time goes on and the rest, as they say, is history.  

What The Apprentice does with its characters is none short of amazing in 2024, it presents Trump as an underdog, someone who’s at least a little caring if not in a satirical way. Trump is new kid on the block with a dream only to be consumed by greed in the process, leaving everyone they love to dust. Abbasi and writer Gabriel Sherman then pull the rug out from the audiences’ feet, as expected, by showing Trump as the excess laden glutton he is. The audience become a participant in all this, presenting the cliched story arc of a rags to riches but for the worst possible person. You leave with a bad taste in your mouth. The level of depravity we’re faced with by Trump: his alleged sexual assault of Ivana Trump, the neglect of his addict brother, the people he left destitute from all his properties and botched business affairs all add to this. It’s all there in grainy video sheen which the film uses visually to great effect.  

The sets and attention to detail is very good for a movie shot and produced in Canada (co- produced by Denmark and Ireland, Hollywood cowardly turned down every offer to make it and Screen Ireland came in to save the day) mimicking as NYC. Good framing along with a palpable colour palette of desaturated reds and golds brought on by that VHS like grading. Performances are top notch too, Sebastian Stan continues his good run follow A Different Man as the overly tanned future president, Maria Bakalova is a perfect match as Ivana but the best performance for me is Jeremy Strong as Cohn. In fact, I think the film suffers by not making him the center of attention. 

If it’s trying to be satirical it needs to be less nuanced, if it’s trying to be analytical then it’s about the wrong guy. Trump is at the heart of a lot of discourse these days but he’s boring, this film just proves it. Cohn was a homophobic gay conservative who’d backstab anyone for extra step on the success ladder. Give me his movie. The Donald isn’t good enough for full screen time as he’s mostly there for laughs. Shaw does a great job in humanizing him but then that’s all but wasted by the man he becomes. The cliched plot points you experience throughout have been done better in other films such as The Wolf of Wallstreet. While they try to flesh Trump and his reasonings out it’s possible that it’s the filmmaker’s intention to make more of a pariah out of him. Whether they got that result or not the end product leaves you thinking the resources used could’ve been utilised  on something else that had a deeper meaning.  

Rating 3/5

  • Directed by: Ali Abbasi
  • Written by: Gabriel Sherman
  • Starring: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, and Maria Bakalova
  • Runtime: 2hr 2min
  • Released:  Oct. 11th, 2024
  • Budget: $15,000,000 (est.)

Review by Marcus Rochford.

The Apprentice Trailer