Truth is Often Stranger Than Fiction

Rating: 8/10 (28 September 2017)

I will admit, I don't know as much about this time in history as I feel like I should. Plus, with many "Based on a True Story" movies, it can be hard to tell sometimes what actually happened or what was compressed or exaggerated for a movie moment.
But if even half of what happened in American Made is true, then it would still be a fantastic story, and Doug Liman did an excellent job bringing it to life.
Tom Cruise plays Barry Seal, a pilot for TWA who is recruited by the CIA to take reconnaissance photos of Central American militants during the late 1970s to early 1980s. However, his life gets more interesting/dangerous/lucrative when he gets roped into working for Pablo Escobar smuggling drugs, and eventually transporting weapons to the Contras of Iran-Contra infamy.
These events play mainly as a stage setting for the story of Seal as he juggles all of these things while trying to provide a good life for his wife Lucy, played by Sarah Wright, and their children. It presents an interesting dilemma: does Lucy trust Barry, even if it means building a fantastical rich life only to have it potentially crumble away?
Indeed, Doug Liman does a great job showing the chemistry between Cruise and Wright, and in that is the film's strength.It also has fun with the narrative structure, with Seal essentially narrating his exploits through recorded tapes after the fact.
Where the film sometimes slides is when it has to stop dead and explain just who all the players are and what the significance of these events is. Sure, at first they can be funny in their presentation, and as someone who doesn't know a lot about these events it can be helpful, but it tends to interrupt a fun scene at a critical time, killing the mood a bit, and it breezes on to the the next scene without a chance to bring that mood back.
Overall, I would say that this film is a fun historical drama with plenty of good-natured humor to keep it afloat, and even if some things may not have actually happened, you don't care because everyone involved is having fun as well.