Based on the best-selling book, the movie gives us a dramatized look at the 1980 presidential election and the events that led to the assassination attempt made on Ronald Regan by John Hinckley Jr.
Killing Reagan, which airs on the National Geographic Channel on Sunday, Oct. 16, feels rushed and incomplete, compressing this historic episode into a flat pancake of pointlessness.
Tim Matheson captures the essence of the Reagan persona - a born performer whose public and private selves were so in sync, perhaps even happily, that they became indistinguishable.
The best moments are the quiet little conversations between Ron and Nancy. Matheson and Nixon are convincing as a close couple united by true love as well as common goals and ambitions.
Someday there will be an engrossing cinematic portrait of Reagan that explores the man's faults and merits with equal measure. Killing Reagan is not that film.
