'The Apprentice' review: An inherently controversial film about Trump

Decades before he hosted “The Apprentice,” Donald Trump was…an apprentice.

His mentor: Roy Cohn, the ruthless lawyer who was a prominent New York power broker in the '70s and '80s, having famously served as a top aide to Senator Joseph McCarthy.

The connection between Trump and Cohn is well known. But inside “The Apprentice” Ali Abbasi goes one step further with his provocative if not entirely shocking, entertaining if not entirely insightful, impeccably acted and inherently controversial film.

It is this relationship, says the Danish-Iranian director, that essentially transformed a young real estate heir – inexperienced but fiercely ambitious – into the man who would become the 45th US president, breaking the norms of American politics in the process.

Speaking of unlikely paths: the bare ones Route of “The Apprentice” on the big screen is material for your own film.

The film, written by Gabriel Sherman and featuring a brilliantly cast trio of Sebastian Stan as Trump, Jeremy Strong as Cohn and Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump, failed at Cannes in May. This was certainly at least partly due to a cease and desist letter from Trump lawyers.

Trump's campaign spokesman called the film “pure fiction” (the filmmakers describe their script as “fact-based”). One of the film's investors — Trump supporter Dan Snyder, former owner of the Washington Commanders — saw it and wanted out. That was only weeks ago Briarcliff Entertainment announced It would open “The Apprentice” this Friday – less than four weeks before the US election.

So what kind of movie do we have here?

Contrary to some descriptions, Abbasi says his film is not a biopic at all, but rather a look at a relationship – and a system in which everything is at stake.

Nor is he trying to be political, he says – an admirable goal, but perhaps an impossible one. In any case, it's hard to imagine anyone watching this film to form an opinion about Donald Trump. While it's hardly a hit – the early Trump scenes are reasonably likable – its supporters, if they come at all, are unlikely to be fans of many of the later scenes, most dramatically a rape scene involving wife Ivana. Trump is also undergoing scalp surgery to combat hair loss, among other procedures.

But the core of the film is his relationship with Cohn, whom a young Trump, son of Queens developer Fred Trump, meets in the 1970s. “Anyone who is anyone comes here,” he tells an uninterested date at an exclusive Manhattan club. “They say I’m the youngest person ever inducted.”

He is invited to Cohn's table. Trump hopes the brash lawyer will help his family fight a federal case alleging they discriminate against black tenants. Cohn finally agrees. Soon he'll also be footing the bill for Trump's much-needed upgrade to expensive Brioni suits. He invites Trump to one of his wild parties attended by celebrities like Andy Warhol, where “if you get impeached, you're invited.”

Most importantly, Cohn gives Trump his three most important rules. First: “Attack, attack, attack.” Then: “Admit nothing, deny everything.” And finally: “No matter what happens, you claim victory and never give up.”

The younger Trump is portrayed here as something of a charmer – there are even comparisons to Robert Redford – with lovingly groomed hair, longing to succeed and please his demanding father. Stan, on a roll after the latest one “Another man” about a completely different kind of transformation, delivers a nuanced performance that manages to capture, but not replicate, Trumpian qualities. While familiar mannerisms and speech patterns emerge as Trump ages, this is not a “Saturday Night Live” sketch.

As for Strong, who better to play Cohn than the exquisitely tortured Kendall Roy from Succession? Strong, who is known for losing himself in roles, seems to have heard the word “reptile” and, through sheer willpower and talent, found a way to actually resemble a snake.

Trump proves to be an eager learner, and Cohn's help proves crucial to realizing the younger man's vision: building a luxury hotel right on 42nd Street, a run-down neighborhood he wants to revitalize. With some Cohn-esque pressure on the city government, the gleaming Grand Hyatt opened in 1980.

This is three years after Trump married Ivana, the Czech-born model he met at the club and whom he persistently woos. Bakalova, who received an Oscar nomination for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” is gorgeous, both warm and fiery in her famous blonde updo.

Her failed marriage is the most shocking scene in the film. Ivana tries to spice up her sex life, but her husband says he's no longer attracted to her – he even hates the fake breasts he gave her. She insults him back and he violently forces himself on her. (Ivana Trump, who died in 2022, accused Trump of rape in an affidavit in the 1990s, but later said she didn't mean it literally.)

Ivana has grown cold and bitter as she informs Cohn, now dying of AIDS, that a bejeweled gift Trump just gave him is just a cheap imitation. “Donald has no shame,” she says.

Soon the mentor will be gone. And 30 years after the end of the film, Trump becomes president. This film's biggest flaw is its connective tissue – unfortunately, we never really understand how young Trump became President Trump.

But we at least recognize the power of Cohn's teachings. At the end, when Trump sits down with the author he hired to co-author his 1987 book “Trump: The Art of the Deal,” he tells him his three most important rules.

Guess what they are?

“The Apprentice,” a Briarcliff Entertainment release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for sexual content, some graphic nudity, language, sexual assault and drug use. Running time: 120 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.