Susan Granger’s review of “American Made” (Universal Pictures)
As Gary Spinelli’s story unfolds, it’s obviously “based on a true lie,” meaning that the facts have been embellished but several things are clear.
Back in the 1980s, Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) was a hotshot TWA pilot from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who sneaked Cuban cigars in his luggage and relieved his in-flight boredom by flipping a few switches and careening around the wild blue, as the resulting turbulence abruptly awakened sleeping passengers.
His antics caught the attention of shady CIA agent Monty Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson), who gave Seal his own Cessna and offered a monetary deal he couldn’t refuse, despite incredulously inquiring “Is all this legal?”
According to glib Schafer, legitimacy was not a worry, including Seal’s initially surreptitiously snapping surveillance photographs and, later, covertly smuggling cocaine and AK-47s across the border into Central America.
Working as a double agent, he consorted with Pablo Escobar (Mauricio Majia) of Colombia’s Medellin cartel, Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega (Alberto Ospino) and the Nicaraguan Contras.
Collaborating with Doug Liman, who launched the “Bourne” franchise and scored with Cruise in “Edge of Tomorrow,” proves a perfect match between director and star, interweaving authentic news footage and touching on real-life corruption and a scandal that allegedly involved Lieut. Col. Oliver North and the National Security Council, along with President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan.
Flashing his ingratiating smile, Cruise, as Seal, had no trouble convincing his at-first skeptical wife Lucy (Sarah Wright Olsen) that she shouldn’t have a problem with all the cash coming in – so much, in fact, that all the closets in their house were stuffed with it, along with numerous duffels hidden in underground crypts.
The only fly-in-the-ointment turns out to be Lucy’s rotten hillbilly brother (Caleb Landry Jones), who catches the attention of their local sheriff (Jesse Plemons).
FYI: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cross Creek Pictures decided to cut a scene showing Seal with then-Governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton, who was receiving a lap dance at a strip club, reportedly because they didn’t want the film to be overly political.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “American Made” is an edgy, engaging, adrenaline-charged 8, proving once again America is the land of opportunity.
