The Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice has received largely lukewarm reviews from critics following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday.
The film, directed by Ali Abbassi and written by Gabriel Sherman, follows Trump during his career as a real estate baron in the 1970s and 80s.
Sebastian Stan stars as the businessman turned politician while Jeremy Strong portrays his lawyer Roy Cohn and Maria Bakalova plays Trump’s ex-wife Ivana.
The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw gave the film two stars, feeling it offered a ‘cartoon version’ of Trump’s early years.
He wrote: ‘The monstrosity here is almost sentimental, a cartoon Xeroxed from many other satirical Trump takes and knowing prophetic echoes of his political future.
The Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice has received largely lukewarm reviews from critics following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday
The film, directed by Ali Abbassi and written by Gabriel Sherman, follows Trump during his career as a real estate baron in the 1970s and 80s
‘It’s basically a far less original picture, its ambience borrowed from Scorsese and Coppola – with Donald’s deadbeat elder brother Fred even getting a ‘Fredo’ scene where he gets embarrassingly, tearfully drunk at a big event, like the loser he is.
‘And like so many film-makers these days, Abbasi will keep swooning over the picturesque sleaze of 70s New York.’
The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin was more positive, giving the film three stars, but criticised the picture for not offering viewers anything they won’t already know about Trump.
He wrote: ‘The main problem with Ali Abbasi’s The Apptrentice is that the film is a character study with very little character to study.
‘But the particular nature of its subject’s psychology renders the drama – how to put this tactfully? – rather short on depth and twists.
‘Spoiler alert: the young Donald Trump was a cripplingly insecure and status-conscious wannabe whose big life goals amounted to getting rich, getting laid and worming his way into his city’s billionaire social elite.’
IndieWire gave The Apprentice a similar verdict, arguing it offers viewers no new informatrion about its subject. However the publication did praise Sebastian Stan for his performance.
They wrote: ‘The trouble is that Abbasi is still possessed with a morbid curiosity about his subject that most Americans have lost the ability to muster after spending eight years studying a Times Square caricature of a person more closely than any painting in the Louvre.
Sebastian Stan stars as the businessman turned politician (right) while Jeremy Strong portrays his lawyer Roy Cohn and Maria Bakalova plays Trump’s ex-wife Ivana (left)
Film critics were united in praise of Sebastian Stan’s performance as Trump
‘If we can’t be bothered to care about the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president (which hinges upon cover-up payments to a porn star on the eve of a national election!), there’s nothing The Apprentice can do to arouse our attention.’
The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a more positive review, calling the film a ‘chilling account’ of Trump’s partnership with Cohn.
Praising Sebastian Stan’s performance, David Rooney wrote: ‘Some will argue that Stan’s performance in the central role is a touch too likeable, but the actor does an excellent job, going beyond impersonation to capture the essence of the man.
‘In a character study of a public figure both widely parodied and unwittingly self-parodying, Stan gives us a more nuanced take on what makes him tick.’
Variety’s Owen Gleiberman praised the first half of the film but felt the quality declined as it went on.
He wrote: ‘The Trump we see goes through a looking glass of treachery, leveraging his empire — and what’s left of his emotions — to within an inch of his life.
‘And once that happens, we’re simply watching a well-acted TV-movie made up of familiar anecdotes built around the Trump we already know. At that point, ‘The Apprentice,’ good as much of it is, becomes far less interesting.’
Kevin Maher of The Times praised Sebastian Stan for his ‘nuanced portrayal of Trump, writing: ‘If there’s any problem with Stan’s iteration of Trump, especially in the early sequences, it’s that he’s almost too sympathetic.’
Ivana (pictured, left) was married to Donald Trump (pictured, right) from 1977 to 1990
Donald Trump and Melania (pictured, right) seen at Ivana’s funeral in 2022
It comes after the Trump campaign announced it will sue the ‘pretend filmmakers’ behind The Apprentice because it shows the presidential candidate raping his wife Ivana.
It said it was riddled with long debunked lies and belonged in a ‘dumpster fire.’
The movie tells the story of the end of his marriage to Ivana, and at one point it depicts Trump raping his wife and asking: ‘Did I find your g spot?’
In a divorce deposition in 1989 Ivana made an accusation of rape but rescinded this in 2015. She has since died.
‘We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers,’ said Steven Cheung, Trump campaign communications director.
‘This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked.
‘As with the illegal Biden Trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate of choice because nothing they have done has worked.
‘This “film” is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and doesn’t even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a dumpster fire.’
The makers of the film are also reported to be in dispute with one of its financial backers, billionaire Dan Snyder, who is a Trump supporter and former donor to his campaign.
In Ivana Trump’s 1990 divorce deposition, she stated that Mr Trump raped her. She claimed that Trump pushed her to the floor and pulled out several handfuls of her hair.
Mr Trump denied the allegation and Ivana Trump later said she did not mean it literally, but rather that she had felt violated.
In a 1993 statement, she said, ‘On one occasion during 1989, Mr Trump and I had marital relations in which he behaved very differently towards me than he had during our marriage.
‘As a woman I felt violated … I referred to this as a rape, but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.’
