The Assassination of Richard Nixon

Sean Penn (looking rather Rupert Pupkin-like) is Samuel Bicke, whose life, circa 1974, has become unbearable. His wife (Naomi Watts) has left him, his dead-end sales job is killing him--even his best friend (Don Cheadle) has had enough. Bicke's a loser, but at least he's an honest one. Nixon, the epitome of dishonesty, becomes the locus of his rage, so Bicke devises a plan to eliminate him. Paul Schrader claims he finished writing Taxi Driver before the real-life Byck attempted to assassinate the president. Maybe so, but the similarities are hard to ignore (and "Bickle" sounds a lot like "Byck"). Niels Mueller (Tadpole) doesn't disguise the fact that his debut was inspired by the guy. If The Assassination of Richard Nixon doesn't hit Taxi Driver's (admittedly lofty) heights, it's still a discomfiting look at a man determined to leave his mark on the world, only to become a footnote. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

The Assassination of Richard Nixon is not really about Sam Bicke's little-known, confused, and wildly unsuccessful plan to actually assassinate Richard Nixon in early 1974. It's more about the psychology of a man driven to such acts -- and what specifically about America makes unstable men like Bicke feel pressured to take such incoherently desperate measures. Far more than a political or action thriller (though there's a little of that too, at the very end), it's the portrait of a loser who feels inadequate at every level of society: at work, at home, and most crucially, within himself. It takes an excellent actor to pull off such a role, and Sean Penn delivers with one of his best performances, his every shaky sentence, fearful glance, and defeated gait exuding fatalistic uncertainty. Along the way, Niels Mueller takes a hard, unflinching look at somber issues rarely dealt with in American movies, particularly the flexible ethics of the workplace, where barely-cutting-it schmoes like Sam Bicke are cut down at every turn, made to lie and feel lousy about themselves. It's that constant humiliation (a failed marriage to Naomi Watts doesn't help), more than any real articulate rage against Nixon or the political system, that fuels Penn's rather hysterical response to his situation. It's an unceasingly dreary world in which he's trapped, Mueller framing his protagonist's life almost exclusively in unappealing settings, such as the tacky furniture store where he works (typically poorly) as a salesman; the ramshackle house where his soon-to-be-ex-wife and family lives; the icily bureaucratic offices where his loan application languishes; and the tire stores and garages where he hatches his improbable scheme to launch his own business. The script wisely adds some touches of morbid humor (particularly in the scene where a clueless Penn tries to join the Black Panthers), and Don Cheadle is excellent in a supporting role as Penn's only friend (a relationship, naturally, that Penn utterly sabotages). It's too much of a downer (right down to the shoot-it-out ending) to have wide appeal, but it's a riveting look into the underside of the lives of those who lack the basic social skills necessary to enter even the lower American middle class. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Movie Guide