Work began on Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice back in 2018, when Donald Trump was president, but it’s just now hitting the 2024 movie calendar, mere weeks before Trump will find out if it will be him or Kamala Harris moving into the White House come January. The movie stars Sebastian Stan as Trump in the 1970s and ‘80s, examining his career as a businessman and his relationship with lawyer Roy Cohn, who is portrayed by Jeremy Strong. The movie is not political, the actors say, but is it good? The critics are here to share their thoughts.
Political or not, The Apprentice is already ruffling feathers. Donald Trump himself threatened legal action over its release, and one big investor is reportedly furious over how the ex-president is portrayed in the film’s final cut. Critical response, meanwhile, has been mostly positive, with Katie Walsh of the L.A. Times calling this Sebastian Stan’s best performance to date, while Jeremy Strong delivers a Roy Cohn that’s akin to Dr. Frankenstein realizing he’s created a monster. Walsh continues:
Stan and Strong’s astonishing performances also deepen and develop over the course of the film. Initially, Stan imparts only a small flavor of the familiar Trump flair; as his Trump ages, his delivery becomes more pronounced, his accent and cadence informed by both [Fred Trump] and Roy. Strong is transformed as Cohn: slack-jawed and dead-eyed but constantly in motion, propelling his lithe, tanned body forward with a driven intensity in business and in pleasure. His dawning horror toward the end of the movie is startling only because we realize that Roy might actually have some kind of conscience, his shark-like appetite for power eclipsed only by his student’s.
Many critics, in fact, see parallels between the relationship in The Apprentice and Frankenstien, including Maureen Lee Lenker of EW, who gives it a B+. The movie doesn’t tell us anything we don’t already know about these men, but it’s still “riveting” to watch. Sebastian Stan brings a nuance to his performance that avoids dipping into late-night parody territory, while Jeremy Strong inspires a strong F-bomb from the critic, who writes:
While Stan's transformation is remarkable, the movie's MVP is Strong as Roy Cohn. Strong, who won an Emmy for his portrayal of eldest boy Kendall Roy on Succession, has a gift for humanizing the most corrupt and despicable among us. Without question, Roy Cohn was one of the most repugnant historical figures of the 20th Century, and yet, somehow Strong makes us feel empathy for the man (and really, Mr. Strong, I say this with deep affection: F--- you for that). Strong is able to reach beyond the moral rot and corruption of a person to find whatever fragile piece of a soul his characters may possess.
Stephanie Zacharek of Time echoes that sentiment, saying Jeremy Strong's ability to make Roy Cohn believably sympathetic is “the most chilling effect” of the movie. Ali Abbasi’s detached approach makes it almost too real, the critic says, writing:
Abbasi presents this student-teacher union with an almost dispassionate detachment. We already know how well one particular individual has already been served by these rules; no need for Abbasi to spell them out in bold type, and so he doesn't. His restraint is admirable, even if it makes his movie feel a little inert, at least through the first two-thirds or so. Still, his actors carry the film: Stan maps a believable transition from the striver Trump of the 1970s to the arrogant Trump of the 1980s, a guy who’s reached what he views as the top and who thinks nothing of betraying those who helped get him there, including his first wife, Ivana.
Owen Gleiberman of Variety calls The Apprentice sharp and scathing, saying it fully nails the first half and avoids cheap shots in its look at Donald Trump’s early business days. However, the movie never fully penetrates the mystery of who he becomes. Sebastian Stan is a “wonder,” according to Gleiberman, who says:
Ali Abbasi stages the The Apprentice with a lot of jagged handheld shots that look a bit too much like television to my eyes, but they do the job; they convince us of the reality we’re seeing. So does the décor — as Trump starts to develop a taste for more lavish surroundings, the movie recreates every inch of baroque merde-gold vulgarity. And Sebastian Stan’s performance is a wonder. He gets Trump’s lumbering geek body language, the imposing gait with his hands held stiffly at his sides, and just as much he gets the facial language. He starts out with an open, boyish look, under the mop of hair we can see Donald is obsessed with, but as the movie goes on that look, by infinitesimal degrees, turns more and more calculated.
Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com has the same issue, and while the critic admits watching the seeds of the Donald Trump we know being planted and fertilized makes for an interesting watch, the second half devolves to pot shots and parody. Tallerico rates it 2 out of 4 stars and writes:
The first half has an intriguing concept, and is reasonably well-told, but the second half falls apart due a distinct lack of POV, or much to say about its subject. Writer Gabriel Sherman gets lost in the woods of what we know about Trump, dropping in references and personality quirks like a Marvel writer uses Easter eggs, leaving the whole exercise feeling as hollow as a late-night comedy sketch. Through it all, the performers hold their heads above water, but The Apprentice feels like it ultimately lands on ‘There’s no explanation for this guy beyond greed and capitalism.’ That feels shallow and easy.
The film has drawn praise from the majority of critics, earning a Certified Fresh 79% on Rotten Tomatoes — and it sounds like that’s in large part thanks to the work from Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong. The Apprentice is in theaters now if this biographical drama sounds like something you want to check out.
