Saw it years ago and I enjoyed it but every time I’ve thought about it since then, I always felt like the communist screenwriters in the movie were intended as a punchline. Even if they were depicted semi-sympathetically. They’re shown as these bumbling wealthy artists and intellectuals who are ultimately puppets of the undercover soviet gigachad. The message the movie seems to send is that Communism is on the one hand, simply the ideology of America’s cold war rival (rather than the ideology of working class emancipation), and on the other hand, the refuge of a bunch of rich goofy nerds who’ve never had a real working class job. I can see why that serves the humor of a comedy movie, but I’ve also seen these tropes deployed in an anti-communist way. Not to mention the main character is ultimately a cutthroat fixer for the studio execs. When George Clooney shows back up and starts saying Communist stuff all it takes is a couple of slaps from Eddie and he gives it all up.
For what it’s worth I felt similar about “Death of Stalin.” On one hand a sincerely funny movie, on the other hand, subtle anti-communism masquerading as even-handed satire.
Was a liberal when I first watched it. Upon reviewing it as a communist I was surprised at how accurate the dialogue is, but I also recognized that the communists were portrayed as a bit goofy. I cut out a scene in which the English guy describes a straw man of historical materialism, saying that with it one could “write down the future with just as much confidence as you write down the past” (rather than predicting the broad outlines of history).
I haven’t seen Death of Stalin, but I heard they depicted the Red Terror of the great purges continuing into 1953.
