Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie

This movie is absolutely funnier than the 5.8 it's sitting at. Y'all salty af and it's hilarious. You coulda told me this movie was an exact copy of the book and I probably wouldn't have questioned it. Depp and Alf pull off a great performance!

I liked the humor in this a lot. It was ridiculous without going SNL-level over-the-top. All the jokes paid off. The pacing was a tiny bit off, but it's short, so it doesn't make a big difference. The cast was really great. A lot of familiar faces playing familiar characters. Johnny Depp especially was great. You wouldn't even have known it was him if you didn't specifically know it.

Honestly, after what happened in 2016, this is what we needed. I wish I had watched it before, but oh well. You need the distance from the event to be able to see the comedy.

Context: I am not American, and do not live in the US.

In many ways, this could be compared to the 2015 HBO TV-movie 7 Days in Hell. It's essentially a long skit based around one central idea, featuring a number of celebrity cameos. It's something where those involved obviously must have had great fun making it, and that joy is transferred to the viewer.

There is also a case to be made for a comparison between this and 2015s Kung Fury. Both rely heavily on replicating (and exaggerating) the looks and feel of popular media from a former decade (specifically the 80s).

While I can not be sure about their motives, it's easy to imagine that the people involved with this meant this as a sort of satirical reflection over Trump's character, or as an comedic attack on him. Because of Trump's way of handling his legacy and public image (basically not caring), this is not a very successful game plan. And because the caricature of Trump in this movie is (sadly) believable, it never becomes all that funny.

Funny or Die presents a satirical rendition of Donald Trump's 1987 best selling business book, The Art of the Deal.

I have to commend Funny or Die for putting together an all-star cast. Even Johnny Depp does a fine bit of acting here, and it may be his best work in a long time, aside from maybe Jack Sparrow. This could have been disposable Internet fluff, but everyone seems to have taken it about as seriously as you could.

My only concern is that it might run a bit long. I know it's not very long, but even in its shortness, it tends to get repetitive and they rely far too much on the "Trump is a racist" jokes. That seems too easy to me and really takes the bite out of what could have been possible here.

The concept of this movie is actually really fascinating to me. Personally, I really dislike Donald Trump, and a good satire of him would work extremely well! Also, it's interesting how this movie is a) an adaptation of his book "The Art of the Deal" b)is shot as mockumentary, and has a cool visual style, and c) Johnny Depp is playing Donald Trump!

However, the movie itself is nowhere near as good as its concept!While I did laugh a couple of times here and there, it was, overall, very unfunny. Most of it is immaturely making fun of Trump instead of packing the movie with little details about Trump's life that would take actual research. I'm ALWAYS impressed when those behind the scenes actually do research on whoever/whatever they're satirizing.

But, despite the movie not really being funny, I thought Johnny Depp did a pretty great job. He doesn't look or sound much like the real Donald Trump, but his performance is extremely unique and bizarre, and I really found myself enjoying!

Also, I'd like to comment on the people angrily calling this movie "propaganda". I highly disagree with them. It's just a quick little comedy that pokes fun of Trump, it's no "Triumph of the Will"! Really, calm down!

Overall, this movie made me agree with what Ron Howard said at the end of the credits.