The Apprentice review: Donald Trump biopic details the making of a monster

The Apprentice is a fascinating character study that covers Donald Trump’s early business years in New York, and features a stunning central performance from Sebastian Stan.

Donald Trump has cast a shadow over politics and culture like no one else over the last decade, while before that he was a well-known property magnate who morphed into a reality TV star.

But there was a time when Donald was just “Fred Trump’s kid,” collecting overdue rent on Coney Island while desperate for his father’s attention.

The Apprentice endeavors to explain how that man gathered the tools and skills to become President of the United States, wrapped up in a tale of the American Dream gone bad.

What is The Apprentice about?

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The Apprentice focuses on around 10 years in the life of Donald Trump, during which time he went from being a nobody to an increasingly important and influential somebody.

In spite of his father’s success on New York’s property ladder, Donald started on the lowest rung. But when Fred Sr. found himself in legal difficulties, Don saw an opportunity to help, by acquiring the services of feared prosecutor Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong).

Cohn taunts and bullies Trump at first, but also sees something in him, liking Donald – perhaps personally, definitely professionally – and so taking the ambitious youngster under his wing.

A friendship therefore forms; one that’s the prime focus of The Apprentice, and shifts throughout the movie, as Cohn becomes mentor, father figure, puppet-master, and, ultimately, monster-maker. The Donald Trump that ends the movie is ready to take on the world, no matter what the cost.

Attack, attack, attack

As written by Gabriel Sherman, The Apprentice is a fun thrill-ride for much of its run-time, playing like a classic underdog story, even though this particular underdog starts out rich.

Donald Trump wants more, however, and obsessed with status and success, he starts making moves and doing deals, with Cohn by his side every step of the way.

There are rules to making it big, Cohn tells him, and those rules are “attack, attack, attack,” followed by “admit nothing, deny everything,” and finally, no matter what happens, “claim victory, and never admit defeat.”

Those words start out as Roy Cohn life lessons, but with truth being malleable in Trump’s eyes, they become Donald’s own slogans, and ultimately the tenets on which he builds his property empire, and beyond the story we’re watching, his political career.

Meaning that while the movie posits that Trump’s ruthless streak was always there, it also draws a line from Cohn’s teachings directly to the White House.

Donald Trump finds love

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As well as detailing the relationship between Trump and Cohn – a co-dependence that frequently seems to be underpinned by real affection – The Apprentice also covers the other great love of Donald’s life.

Trump met Ivana Marie Zelníčková (Maria Bakalova) on a night out in New York in 1976, and so began a whirlwind romance that saw them married a year later, and quickly becoming tabloid darlings as their twin careers took off.

But the course of true love never did run smooth – especially when one half of the couple is Donald Trump – and it’s a twisted relationship, fuelled by Don’s jealousy and narcissim, and destroyed by arguments, violence, and in the movie’s most shocking scene, sexual assault.

Don’s insecurities also come to the forefront during this period, with his weight ballooning as his hair recedes, and Trump popping pills and going under the knife to try and halt the effects of ageing and overindulgence.

Trump is also rocked by his brother Fred Jr.’s alcoholism and death at the age of 42, as well as his ongoing disputes with Fred Sr., which drive Donald forward but also haunt him in his ongoing efforts to win Daddy’s love.

Sebastian Stan delivers a remarkable performance

The Apprentice covers the professional highs as well as the personal lows of this tempestuous period in Donald Trump’s life, making it a showcase for Sebastian Stan’s talents, and the former Winter Soldier rises to the occasion, delivering a quite remarkable performance.

His Trump is charming and likeable at times, and he’s even sweet in his wooing of Ivana. But Donald transforms over the course of the new movie. Gradually and subtly, so you can’t see the change take place. But it’s substantial, and clear the moment apprentice turns on master, during which the aspiring wannabe takes his final form as megalomaniacal monster.

Jeremy Strong matches him every step of the way as Cohn, embarking on a journey which is the polar opposite of Stan’s. As here that’s all about building Donald Trump up, so Strong has to break Cohn down, which he does with equal subtlety and skill. So-much-so that you even have sympathy for his very different breed of monster come the end of the film.

Is The Apprentice good?

The Apprentice concerns the rise and rise of Donald Trump, but it’s also a Faustian tale, in which two devils make a deal with each other, and only one of them survives.

In that respect, it’s a deeply depressing and disturbing tale, detailing the dark side of the American Dream. But in spite of all that tragedy, it’s also fun.

Director Ali Abassi shoots proceedings with a punk sensibility that has you rooting for Trump, particularly in the film’s early scenes where it makes you feel like he’s sticking it to the man, when in reality, he already is the man.

The Apprentice is also hilarious, with Sherman’s script filled with funny one-liners, and cleverly utilizing hindsight to wring laughs out of a Russia mention or Roger Stone cameo. Scenes that will have you laughing in the moment, until the reality of what’s to come hits home.

The Apprentice score: 4/5

The Apprentice starts out by telling the audience that “this is a classic American horror story.” But it’s also a sophisticated comedy, a complex character study, and a disturbing cautionary tale. Which is an impressive feat, as confounding and confusing as the man on whose story it’s based.

This review is from a Fantastic Fest screening. The Apprentice hits US screens on October 11, 2024, while it’s out in the UK on October 18. Until then, check out the new movies coming to streaming this month.