I watched Reagan, because while I have no love for the man, for a lot of reasons, I wanted to see how his life was portrayed by people who do love him. And that's how the film comes off, showing him as a commie fighting machine with wit and incredible foresight, while dismissing, excusing, or ignoring his many controversies. The film never really shows how he accomplished anything, rather focussing on speeches and exposition to take us through his life. It's quite simplistic, using the characters around him to paint a picture of a man respected and loved, rather than showing us why. All of that is fine. It wasn't made on a big budget and the director has a pretty flaccid filmography, nobody expected a 'Cash' level biopic.
The propaganda part is what shocked me. Not for Reagan but for Russia. The whole film is framed as a story told in modern day by an old Russian spy(Jon Voigt) advising a promising Russian Presidential hopeful named Novikov on how the USSR mishandled American politics and lost the Cold War, so that he may not make the same mistake. Voigt's character is a very staunch communist, so the implication seems to be that this hopeful is as well. In real life, when this was filmed, that promising Russian Presidential hopeful was Navalny at the time of filming. The actor playing this character even looks like a lot like Navalny, and to an American, their names are similar. Navalny had not died before this film was made, so was this an effort to paint him as a man who wanted to bring back the USSR and the Cold War and by extension, Putin as the man opposing that? It would be quite an ironic twist to have a film about Reagan include pro-Russian propaganda, with his vocal efforts to keep communism out of movies.
As far as Reagan himself, the film showed its great love for him, and most certainly reads as propaganda for a man dead for 20 years. A yearning for days gone with plenty of implied commentary on modern politics, such as the only homosexual character being an actor arguing modern liberal points, implied strongly to be communist, then being shut down by Reagan.
So, my verdict? It was both a love letter to Reagan and a ham fisted propaganda vehicle that supports modern fear mongering against liberal ideals. It was made for a specific audience, and while they will love it, no one else will find much in it for them due to its numerous misrepresentations and outright falsehoods.