By Adam Bulger

Lions Gate

The liberal spam service MoveOn.org recently sent out an email concerning the new global warming disaster flick, The Day After Tomorrow. The group called it "the movie the White House doesn't want you to see." A week later, Lions Gate released a DVD of The Reagans, billing it as "the film they didn't want you to see."

You remember: CBS pulled it. Showtime ran it. Now it's available to those without premium cable. While lacking The Day After Tomorrow's cgi mojo, The Reagans will prove infinitely more satisfying for a select crowd: history junkies who groove on shot-in-Montreal, lo-fi, made-for-tv epics. For this audience, The Reagans will cackle with energy. Ron and Nancy share scenes with Joan Didion, Elie Wiesel and Barry Goldwater. The sets are gloriously chintzy—The Reagans is to the West Wing's White House what Plan 9 from Outer Space is to The Matrix—and the costumes are hilarious, especially Nancy's puke-colored 80s power suits. While the presentation may be objectionable to those who consider Reagan a deity, the facts presented are well-sourced. In the commentary, the producers and directors cite Nancy, Ron and Patti's official biographies.

So, who are "they"? And why didn't "they" want you to see this?

Let's examine the suspects. Ronnie was in no state to object to anything. In any case, James Brolin plays him as a charming, well-meaning dunderhead. The kids? Ron Jr. is too mellow to comment, Maureen's dead and Michael doesn't count—he was adopted. Patti Davis has already commented in Time, where she largely complained about one scene that depicts her as a young girl whacked out on tranquilizers stolen from her mother. (In the Time article, Patti emphasizes that while she stole tranquilizers, she never ingested them. Rather, she traded them for amphetamines.)

The current administration? If The Reagans included a scene where Donald Rumsfeld met with Saddam Hussein, or showed Dick Cheney in a similarly bad light, official opposition would make sense. But the gang is absent, as is George Sr., whose only mention comes when Nancy refuses to let him see the president after John Hinckley fails to impress Jodie Foster.

The lone remaining suspect is Nancy. Portrayed as a shrill Lady Macbeth, a horrible mother, a vicious politician and a total hypocrite, The Reagans' Nancy steals and runs the show. Even though she lacks the real Nancy's Charlie Brown-proportioned head and chemically abetted perma-smile, Judy Davis' let-them-eat-cake and just-say-no poses are utterly convincing and detestable. So it must have been that mean old Nancy after all. Not only did I watch The Reagans, but I'm going to see The Day After Tomorrow, too—and not at matinee prices. That'll show her.

Adam Bulger