Donald Trump has frequently been accused of cutting a deal with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to win the Presidency in 2016. According to Bad President, that’s a load of bullshit. It was merely Satan he dealt with.
Satan, or as he’s referred to here, Luther (Eddie Griffin, A Star is Born, American Hero) and his minions, Shame (Robert Amico, Conspiracy Child, Altered Spirits), Misery (Dawna Lee Heising, Axegrinder 2, Amityville Clownhouse) and Anger (Justin Shenkarow, House of the Dead 2) have a problem. They can’t seem to meet their quota of souls.
Their solution? Make Trump’s (Jeff Rector, Automation, An Hour to Kill) wish to become president a reality. “If he does to the world what he’s done to his companies…” Although at first, he’s leery of a deal he can’t sue his way out of he’s eventually persuaded to accept. The rest is history. Or a reasonable facsimile thereof.
If you’re a Trump supporter you can stop reading here, you are not going to like Bad President. The film relentlessly skewers him, and even more embarrassingly, uses his own words and actions to do so. And why not, what he’s actually said and done is funnier, and more outrageous, than anything writers could think up.
Director Param Gill (DOA: Death of Amar) and co-writer John Buchanan (Going to America) take actual events and build a framework around them. Luther, as the puppet master pulling all the strings, holds it all together. And as we watch Trump bumble his way into the White House we get a satirical look at American politics and society.
As Trump, Rector really doesn’t look the part, but he does do a great job duplicating his speech and mannerisms. Interestingly enough it’s not the first time he’s played him either, having played him in the YouTube series Trumped!. Most of the film’s other real-world characters look a lot closer to the real thing. Those characters include Ivanka (Becca Buckalew, Fast and Fierce: Death Race), Melania (Melanie Marden, Reboot Camp), Michael Bloomberg, (Joey Sagal, Retrograde), Keith Schiller (Jose Rosete, Monsters of Man, Human Zoo), Michael Cohen (Mark McClain Wilson, The Phoenix Incident) and Putin (Mark McClain Wilson, The Moment After). Stormy Daniels plays herself, as opposed to with herself, in the first role I’ve seen her in where she keeps her clothes on.
The interactions between all of these characters make Bad President feel more like a collection of skits than a narrative film at times but apart from that this is a well done, and damn funny film. I wouldn’t mind a sequel about the 2020 elections and, even better, his attempts to tweet and sue his way to victory afterwards.
Bad President is available on digital from VMI Worldwide. You can check the film’s website and Facebook page for more details. And for more politically incorrect fun, make it a double feature with the Trumpcentric Halloween spoof President Evil.