My Son Hunter

• Directed by Robert Davi
• September 7, 2022

A fictionalized telling of the lifestyle and scandals of Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden.

Not sure exactly what I expected when I popped in My Son Hunter. Maybe more Joe Biden (John James) than what we got. The title would seem to imply that with Joe a more significant presence than he is. I thought this would be about Hunter Biden (Laurence Fox) as told by his father but Joe is very much a supporting character with others, mostly Agent Hound (Gina Carano), breaking the fourth wall to some extent serving as narrators.

Maybe even a film more straightforward or even serious than this. Agent Hound starts the movie by saying it is not a true story-except for all the facts. This quickly demonstrates not to be serious. Rather just closer to farcical. It has moments of comical visual stylization with elements of cartoonish logic.

It’s first and foremost motive is to make fun of the left and some of their ideology such as the statement of preferred pronouns. It also takes moments to swipe at social media, big techas well as legacy media. The humor is adequate but never outright funny. Parody the people. Push for an SNL skit. But with thought bubbles and assorted graphics it for some reason the humor becomes muted. 

The elements that are facts (what is on the public record and easily found through Google) are fed to the viewer in conversations. And these conversations bring the movie to a crawl. It’s like in those moments they’re going for some kind of philosophical and substantive discussion. What we get instead is a regurgitation of headlines or direct quotes from interviews that make the dialogue stilted. Is this a biography, drama, or satire? It never quite lands on one.

Robert Davi is not a fan of the Bidens yet he paints a bit of a sympathetic picture of Hunter Biden without giving him a pass. In My Son Hunter the character of Hunter Biden is burden by familial expectations along with personal loss and the inability to live up to the expectations of his family or even those he has of himself. I will say that Hunter is much better looking than Fox. Not that either have ANY features in common. At least James passably looks like Joe Biden. I am not looking for twins but do something to visually communicate who this real life figure is since they are well known to the public.

Here Joe Biden is certainly an ambitious man, but as portrayed much more of a disappointed father than he is evil or anything like that. He’s at his wits end with his only remaining son who he’s covering for as much out of love as it is out of a need to protect his own career.

There is a stripper character that is clearly based on Zoe Kestan whom Hunter had a relationship with and even fathered a child with (girl btw). By having the movie close with her actions, the purpose of the narrative is altered. If you have a movie whose title references a particular character and that character is central to the whole movie until close to the end when things shift to another character then it is more the story of that OTHER character. She reunites with her estranged father and gives away her story to a reporter for The New York Post.

Perhaps it would’ve been more effective as a movie had it simply ended with her leaving and texting her dad. Maybe they just needed to get it to some arbitrary time. If that were the case a little more dialogue and a little more character development. Just something other than closing on her story.

My Son Hunter is okay viewing. I wasn’t disappointed nor was I thrilled because it never quite got its footing. It is entertaining enough to watch to the end but I may never pop it in again.