The Comey Rule

This movie is done very well, especially for a news junkie like me. But most importantly and really the only reason to review this movie is the fact that I never knew, until now, why Comey did it. Why he thrust a hand grenade into the gears of the democratic (HC) machine. As many did, I HATED Comey for not just once damning Clinton, but TWICE; the second of which there was no coming back from. Watching this movie and seeing what went on behind the scenes that ultimately forced Comey to do what he did, I get it now. What a horrible awful impossible situation to be in. And although I voted for her, I'm afraid HC has no one to blame but herself.

First off, as others have noted, this 2-part mini series is about James Comey and not Donald Trump. In fact Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein has more screen time than Trump does. Showtime aired the mini-series in 2020, then uncertain if Trump would prevail again in November, or not.

James Comey has the very unique label as being an individual hated by both sides of the aisle. The mini-series is based on his book, where he tries to set some records straight. If anything, the mini series canonizes him more than he probably deserves. It was probably the only way Showtime could have made the mini series. As the show makes clear, Comey and the FBI officially concluded the investigation into Hillary's email account months before the 2016 election, but about 2 weeks before the election, it was revealed that her Blackberry contained thousands of emails that could not be accessed during the initial investigation. The crux of the conflict Comey and the FBI had was: Advise Congress less than a week before the 2016 Election that they are reopening the email case, or wait until after the election, and had Hillary Clinton won, they would reopen the case and be in a position to defend why they waited until after the election to do so, when they had information and emails from the Blackberry before the election. Imagine the Fox News headlines then - it would have made "MonicaGate" and Whitewater look like a picnic.

The mini series opens with Rosenstein getting ready to pack up his office, assisted by an DAG staffer who also served as Sally Yates' assistant. Rosenstein narrates the story and Comey's rugged nationalism and pride and unquestioning belief in what the FBI does comes into focus. Comey is a Republican but was appointed by President Obama, who, unlike his successor, believed in reaching across the aisle to appoint members of the opposing party in the interest of total transparency for the people of the country. The mini series then revisits the events leading up to the 2016 election, and the events several months afterwards, when Yates and eventually Comey were fired by the new President who was fixated on the Russian election meddling investigation.

The acting is first rate. Jeff Daniels plays Comey as a proud citizen and loving father who remembers the names of everyone in his office, and the custodial staff as well. Again, the show does cast an "angelic" light on Comey which he may or may not deserve. As Donald Trump, Irish actor Brenden Gleeson takes a few pages out of the Alec Baldwin impersonation book but does a fairly good job. At times his mannerisms reminded me of Marlon Brando in The Godfather - the parallels between the "loyalty" that Trump demanded by everyone in his circle and organized crime is actually noticed by the FBI at the time. Michael Kelly plays Andrew McCabe, the deputy director of the FBI who becomes director (briefly) after Comey is fired. Kelly also played the sociopathic Doug Stamper in the TV series House of Cards, so he is no stranger to DC-based roles, although McCabe is a decent person who maintains a sense of calm while others, particularly Rosenstein, become unraveled. Other familiar faces appear in the show, from Holly Hunter as Yates, Peter Coyote as Robert Mueller, and William Sadler as Michael Flynn.

By now most Americans feel one way or another about Donald Trump (and James Comey, for that matter). The mini series won't change your mind one way or another about them. But if anything, it tells an almost Shakespearean story about a complex man thrust into an extremely difficult, and in many ways world-changing, position.

This is the tale of James Comey in a real darned if you do, darned if you don't situation. All the cliches work here "Walking the line", "Crisis of conscious", etc. Comey's side of the tale is that he was trained not to have any of these things - just do the work, present the work, move forward from there. Don't let politics or personal relationships be involved. It's the FBI that is trained not to be that way.

But in the 2016 American election campaign and things connected to it, were ALL political and personal. This is the story of a guy of the head of the FBI who really didn't want any of that,. It shows how he remained "robotic", with a very military attitude, stoic approach in his work, while he was surrounded by others that were not, including those in his own home.

The production of the telling of this side of Comey's tale was top notch. And as we all write reviews, that is what this is, Comey's side of the tale. And that is how I will present this review. Excellent casting with Jeff Daniels and Brendon Gleason - and even down to other important casting such as Scoot McNairy as Rod Rosenstein narrating the tale, Holly Hunter as Sally Yates, Jonathan banks (wow!), William Sadler as Michael Flynn (another WOW!), Michael Hyatt, Joe Lo Truglio and Kingsley Ben-Adir - the whole cast of actors were knock outs in their roles. All of them, they are all worth a look up on IMdB.

While many want to harp on the "political" side of this, The Comey Rule is not primarily about that as I mentioned above. For me, it was clear this wasn't about Party sides, but about a man so professional in his job, he wanted to do the right thing no matter who it was about. Comey shows even trying to walk the line, that there was no line for many - the Candidates, the media, the White House, his own team members in in the FBI, etc. And for a man who was as direct to do such, this production was good enough to walk that line as well.

The rating seems very unfair for the quality of this series. unsurprising as i'm sure this ruffled many trump supporting feathers. they don't enjoy seeing trump in this light, which is funny because so much of his dialog is straight out of his mouth. It's not glorifying democrats or Hilary either, just feels like a genuine insight into the background of politics and the stresses that come with the decisions they make on a daily basis.

Enjoyable series though not perfect. It has a slightly hagiographic nature in relation to Comey though at the same time he comes across as pretty naive. Brendan Gleeson's portrayal of Trump is brilliant but you can't help feel it humanises him a bit too much. Some of the characters, especially the Trump side, are presented very one dimensionally as 'baddies', but perhaps that's accurate...