CHRISTIAN TOTO: The Brink of War Makes Reagan Human, Not a Caricature.

[Jeff] Daniels’ Reagan leans heavily on his good sense of humor, a grasp of basic psychology and endless resolve. He isn’t a caricature or a man teetering on the edge of senility. In fact, taking 2024’s “Reagan” out of the equation, it’s the most positive portrayal of the world leader in any Hollywood production.

That’s because it hails from Angel Studios, not La La Land.

“The Brink of War” isn’t dumbed down, but it’s accessible enough for teen viewers as well as adults. It’s hard to grasp the scope of the meeting if audiences weren’t alive back in 1986.

What’s most shocking – slash -welcome? President Reagan’s frequent attacks on the inhumanity at the heart of Communism. “War” doesn’t overplay that message, but it’s a welcome departure from Hollywood’s head-in-the-sand approach to the fascist cause.

Daniels is outstanding here, giving a consistently strong performance that isn’t bogged down by unnecessary tics or personal attacks on the president. He’s not deified, per se, and his stubbornness and folksy charm both help and hinder the mission in play.

In order to remain employable in Hollywood, Daniels is quick to point out that he doesn’t share Reagan’s worldview: Jeff Daniels on Reagan-Reykjavik Movie: ‘We Are All One World.’

Liberal actor Jeff Daniels plays President Ronald Reagan in the movie The Brink of War about the 1986 Reykjavik Summit, but during a promotional interview with CBS Saturday Morning, he appeared to have completely missed the point of the story. According to him, the key takeaway is that we should all aspire to the amoral hippie-ism of John Lennon, “We’re all one person. We are all one world. You know, John Lennon wasn’t wrong in his song ‘Imagine.’”

Except that he was; in his last year, Lennon admitted to be being embarrassed by his political phase culminating in “Imagine” — and reportedly supported Reagan over the hapless Carter during the 1980 election cycle: Trapped in 1972.