review: Charlie Wilson's War

 

(Two out of Five Stars)

 

 

Alright, so if you yearn for good acting do yourself the favor of enduring the first 20 minutes or so of the mediocre acting and the ridiculously lame accent of Tom Hanks to get to Philip Seymour Hoffman, who is brilliant as usual. This is a slightly interesting, though convoluted political satire which, at times, tries too hard to fool us into thinking that it is an intelligent comment on governmental deceit. Although we all know that lies and corruption are staples in U.S. government, Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts hardly have the qualifications to bring the notion to film. All in all, this film offers no real profound and original comments on backdoor politics, however, it does do its duty in pointing out the way in which the public is duped into thinking that they know why we are invading and fighting where we are and therefore at least attempts to be a poignant lampoon. All of that being said, the film seems to sell itself out at times by leaning upon the crutch of the same idiotic nationalistic and religious superiority which it at other times seems to disparage. I have seen reviews calling this a “politically liberal interpretation” which would be laughable if it wasn’t an insult. Hence… if a message is sent, it is quite confused. It seems to me that this is an example of a decent idea that somehow came across as a bit of a mess. Not that I need a conventional hero in my films, but Charlie Wilson’s War almost seems to acclaim it’s title character which would be much like a guy in your neighborhood letting his 30 dogs crap all over everyone’s lawn for years, then cleaning some of it up one day and being considered a good citizen for doing so. A corrupt politician doing a “good deed” while making no real sacrifices in their own lives of comfort doesn’t really impress me. Philip Seymour Hoffman’s usual brilliant performance aside, this is really nothing more than a sort of interesting attempt at a political biography.