Movie Reviews
Movie Review: ‘The Apprentice’
Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump in ‘The Apprentice’. Photo: Briarcliff Entertainment.
Opening in theaters on October 11th, ‘The Apprentice’ feels both timely and of its time as it turns the clock back to the late 1970s and 1980s, where Donald Trump was still a wannabe real estate developer working for his father’s companies who dreams of running his own business empire, but initially lacking the connections –– despite his family’s clear privilege –– to do so.
Ali Abbasi’s latest charts his rise thanks to the Palpatine-alike influence of obnoxious, powerful lawyer Roy Cohn, and aims to dig under Trump’s skin to discover what lead to the problem we have today.
Related Article: Sebastian Stan Playing a Young Donald Trump in New Movie ‘The Apprentice’
Does ‘The Apprentice’ work?
Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump in ‘The Apprentice’. Photo: Briarcliff Entertainment.
With the upcoming election on everyone’s minds, it’s timely that a film targeted at discovering where Donald Trump got a lot of his business and general beliefs from is arriving in theaters. ‘The Apprentice’ doesn’t look to completely profile the man, but then, that’s not the point; this is a tightly-focused story of his rise to business dominance in New York in the 1980s thanks to the support and advice of Roy Cohn in particular, who sees something in Trump and encourages his less ethical side with a mantra that includes the phrase “admit nothing, deny everything” (sound familiar?).
Truth and fairness are entirely malleable to these men, who use wealth and power to manipulate the world around them, and though the movie sometimes seems to let Trump off the hook for his behavior, it’s ultimately a compelling chronicle of his muddy morals.
Script and Direction
(L to R) Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn and Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump in ‘The Apprentice’. Photo: Briarcliff Entertainment.
Writer Gabriel Sherman has spent most of his career chronicling dodgy wealthy and powerful people, and he brings plenty of research to the page here. Keeping the focus almost entirely on Trump, he has crafted a solid and believable evolution (though perhaps devolution might be a better word) for the man on the page.
While ‘The Apprentice’ script does sometimes fall into the old trap of this-happens-then-this-happens storytelling, there’s enough meat on the bone to keep it from feeling stale.
Director Ali Abbasi has more normally worked from scripts he wrote, including the superb ‘Holy Spider’ and the excellent ‘Border’ and has brought both horror and fantasy to screens. He’s a good choice for a real-life horror story and his Iranian-Danish background means he has an outsider’s eye on the whole, ridiculous saga.
Bringing late 1970s and 1980s New York to the screen is no easy feat, especially for a movie that had to find its thrifty $16 million budget from a patchwork of companies and investors. But Abbasi infuses his film with punkish energy and keeps the story in motion while getting a lot out of his two leading men.
Performances
Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong dominate the screen here, while finding support in the likes of Maria Bakalova and Martin Donovan.
Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump
Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump in ‘The Apprentice’. Photo: Briarcliff Entertainment.
Stan is having a stellar year, providing some of the best performances of his career between ‘A Different Man’ and now this. His Donald Trump is less an impression of the man, more a channeling of his corrupted essence, though as he moves through the story, he becomes closer to the Trump as most people will know him. While his work on ‘A Different Man’ seems more likely to draw awards attention, it’s not impossible that this transformation will also see potential trophies.
Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn
Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn in ‘The Apprentice’. Photo: Briarcliff Entertainment.
The ever-intense Strong (who spent a few years as the ambitious, neurotic Kendall Roy on ‘Succession’) here dives into playing the powerful lawyer who seemingly set Trump on his path to how he is today. This is a bravura acting job by Strong, who fully imbues Cohn with angry power, but also gets to chart his slow decline as Trump rises and Cohn is impacted by the AIDS epidemic in those around him and finally, himself (though he insists to his dying day that he has liver cancer). Cohn’s a fascinating, intimidating character, a puppet master whose creation gets away from him.
Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump
Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump in ‘The Apprentice’. Photo: Briarcliff Entertainment.
Bakalova, best known for her breakout role in the ‘Borat’ sequel, has less to do than her co-stars, but she brings spirit and, later spite to the role of Trump’s first wife. She’s always watchable and works well with Stan.
Martin Donovan as Fred Trump
(L to R) Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump and Martin Donovan as Fred Trump in ‘The Apprentice’. Photo: Briarcliff Entertainment.
Trump’s overbearing father had a huge impact on his life, and Donovan is excellent in the role, working in prosthetics to bring him to life.
Supporting cast
There is good work in relatively small (but impactful) roles from the likes of Charlie Carrick (as Trump’s brother Freddy, who goes from high-flying airline pilot to addicted burnout) and Mark Rendall as Roger Stone, who will infamously go on to be a key advisor to Trump.
Final Thoughts
Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump in ‘The Apprentice’. Photo: Briarcliff Entertainment.
‘The Apprentice’ faces a struggle for attention in theaters because of its divisive subject matter. There will be surely those who will be disappointed it doesn’t completely demonize the man (though a couple of scenes, based on more spurious accusations certainly push in that direction, including how he treats Ivanna), while Trump supporters will skip it and label it as leftie propaganda and “fake news.”
But take on its own merits, it’s a worthwhile peek at a very troubling person.
‘The Apprentice’ receives 7.5 out of 10 stars.
“An American horror story.”
Showtimes & Tickets
A young Donald Trump, eager to make his name as a hungry scion of a wealthy family in 1970s New York, comes under the spell of Roy Cohn, the cutthroat attorney who… Read the Plot
What’s the plot of ‘The Apprentice’?
A young Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan), eager to make his name as a hungry second son of a wealthy family in 1970s New York, comes under the spell of Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), the cutthroat attorney who would help create the Donald Trump we know today.
Cohn sees in Trump the perfect protégé — someone with raw ambition, a hunger for success, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win.
Who is in the cast of ‘The Apprentice’?
- Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump
- Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn
- Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump
- Martin Donovan as Fred Trump
- Ben Sullivan as Russell Eldridge
- Charlie Carrick as Fred Trump Jr.
- Mark Rendall as Daniel Sullivan
- Joe Pingue as Anthony Salerno
(L to R) Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn in ‘The Apprentice’. Photo: Briarcliff Entertainment.
Other Sebastian Stan Movies and TV Shows:
Buy Tickets: ‘The Apprentice’ Movie Showtimes
Buy Sebastian Stan Movies On Amazon
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Movie Reviews
Miyamoto says he was surprised Mario Galaxy Movie reviews were even harsher than the first | VGC
Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto says he’s surprised at the negative critical reception to the Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
As reported by Famitsu, Miyamoto conducted a group interview with Japanese media to mark the local release of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
During the interview, Miyamoto was asked for his views on the critical reception to the film in the West, where critics’ reviews have been mostly negative.
Miyamoto replied that while he understood some of the negative points aimed at The Super Mario Bros Movie, he thought the reception would be better for the sequel.
“It’s true: the situation is indeed very similar,” he said. “Actually, regarding the previous film, I felt that the critics’ opinions did hold some validity. “However, I thought things would be different this time around—only to find that the criticism is even harsher than it was before.
“It really is quite baffling: here we are—having crossed over from a different field—working hard with the specific aim of helping to revitalize the film industry, yet the very people who ought to be championing that cause seem to be the ones taking a passive stance.”
As was the case with the first film, opinion is divided between critics and the public on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. On review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently has a critics’ score of 43% , while its audience score is 89%.
While this is down from the first film’s scores (which were 59% critics and 95% public) it does still appear to imply that the film’s target audience is generally enjoying it despite critical negativity.
The negative reception is unlikely to bother Universal and Illumination too much, considering the film currently has a global box office of $752 million before even releasing in Japan, meaning a $1 billion global gross is becoming increasingly likely.
Elsewhere in the interview, Miyamoto said he hoped the film would perform well in Japan, especially because it has a unique script rather than a simple localization as in other regions.
“The Japanese version is a bit unique,” he said. “Normally, we create an English version and then localize it for each country, but for the first film, we developed the English and Japanese scripts simultaneously. For this film, we didn’t simply localize the completed English version – instead, we rewrote it entirely in Japanese to create a special Japanese version.
“So, if this doesn’t become a hit in Japan, I feel a sense of pressure – as the person in charge of the Japanese version – to not let [Illumination CEO and film co-producer] Chris [Meledandri] down.
“However, judging by the reactions of the audience members who’ve seen it, I feel that Mario fans are really embracing it. I also believe we’ve created a film that people can enjoy even if they haven’t seen the previous one, so I’m hopeful about that as well.”
The sixth outing in the director’s chair for filmmaker Kirk Jones, I Swear dramatizes the real-life story of touretter John Davidson (played by Robert Aramayo). Tourette’s Syndrome, for those unfamiliar with the condition, is a nervous system disorder that causes various tics, the most prolific being erratic and explicit language. However, as I Swear expertly showcases, the syndrome is far more than ill-timed outbursts of curse words. Davidson’s story is one of societal frustration, finding your people (both with and without the condition), and using your voice to help others rise. The subject and subject matter are handled with absolute care and understanding under Kirk’s measured vision and Robert Aramayo’s BAFTA-winning performance.
The film kicks off with the greatest exclamation to democracy ever uttered (*%#! the Queen!), as a nervous John Davidson prepares himself before entering an awards ceremony hosted by Britain’s royal family. Right away, the film tells us what it is: a triumph over adversity that blends humor and human drama with education. It’s an important setup, as the film flashes back to Davidson’s 1980s youth, where we see his time as a star soccer recruit flatline as his condition takes hold. Davidson’s life spirals from there. Some aspects, like school bullying and accidental run-ins with authority figures, are expected but important to empathizing with young Davidson’s (young version, played with heart by Scott Ellis Watson) new everyday life. The more tragic, a complete meltdown of his family system, is unsettling if quick. His father (Steven Cree) is never given enough screen time to explore his alcohol coping tendencies. However, his mother Heather’s descent into easy fixes and blaming is crushing and convincing. Harry Potter series actress Shirley Henderson (Moaning Myrtle) gives a layered performance as Heather. Someone who loves her son, but also feels cursed by him as the entire family exits the picture. It’s bitter, she’s tired, and fills each conversation with ‘only medication and your mother can save you’ energy.
From there, the viewer and Davidson find refuge in a host of characters. Maxine Peake plays Dottie, the mother of a childhood friend and a retired mental health nurse. Screen vet Peter Mullan plays maintenance man Tommy Trotter. Together, they help Davidson build a life and an understanding of himself that carries the film forward into its second half. After that, the film is primarily a 3-actor show as director Kirk fills the screen with these tour-de-force performances. Peake and Mullan are great vessels to get the film’s main message across: patience, love, and a shared responsibility between the diagnosed and those who understand their struggle can help change the path for people quickly left behind by a normative world. Together, they are the soul of the movie, with the filmmakers clearly hoping the audience will follow their lead after they exit the theater (in my case, the beautiful Oriental Theater for the Milwaukee Film Festival). Both performances are perfectly warm and reflective and shouldn’t be left out in discussions of I Swear.
I say this because the movie is anchored by The Rings of Power actor Robert Aramayo, who leaves Elrond’s elf ears behind to bring an acute naturalism to his performance of main character John Davidson. Aramayo’s physicality and timing of the fitful Tourettes Syndrome never feel out of place or overplayed. In fact, the movie as a whole does an amazing job of never veering into sentimentality. While many moviegoers left with tissues dabbing their eyes, the filmmaking never felt like it was forcing that reaction out of audiences. It straddles the line between feel-good and reality with every story beat and lands squarely on the side of letting the real inform our feelings. Anyone with an ounce of empathy will grasp the film’s message and hopefully take it with them into life.
I Swear continues at the Milwaukee Film Festival on Tuesday, April 21st, and releases nationwide April 24th, 2026, courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
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