This is the new Mike Nichols film that's scripted by THE WEST WING's Aaron Sorkin (who recently brought us STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP as well. If you blinked...)
I realize it's not terribly popular to admit this, but I've never been a huge fan of Nichols; I tend to find his work style-less, unengaging, and obvious. This said, I do think CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR seems interesting & I'm eager to check it out. Hanks invariably chooses compelling roles, even if the films they're a part of aren't always out of the park with greatness.
Here's Shabby...
Hey AICN, shabby here with a look at the relatively under the radar flick Charlie Wilson’s War.
Now I say under the radar since the film comes out in year’s weeks and I just started seeing TV ads. This would be normal if this was just an everyday movie, but this stars three Oscar winners Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julia Roberts in her first live action movie in three years.
The movie follows Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks), a Democratic Congressman, who one day decided to start a covert war against the Russians in Afghanistan by bringing together Pakistan, Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. That is pretty much it in terms of plot, the film doesn’t pretend to be any bigger then the collapse of the Iron Curtain.
To start off with the good you must go with Philip Seymour Hoffman as Gust Avrakotos, a no BS CIA agent that gets assigned to the Middle East desk after pissing off his boss for the second time (which you watch in all of its amazingness). Every scene he has is a pure joy to watch, the man takes a role that seems could have been written as a serious part, and is played in a serious way but comes off very funny. PSH must be in the prime of his career because he can elevate every scene he has in a movie even if the movie is not that good (Along Came Polly). Thank god that is not the case here, because everybody else in this movie steps up and tries to carry their weight as well to make a good picture.
The center of the story is of course Charlie Wilson, and the role offers more then enough for Hanks to sink his teeth into. Charlie is not an everyday man, and this offers Hanks an opportunity to put aside his wholesome family image and do something new (or at least something he hasn’t done in 20 years). Do you remember the press Hanks received a few years ago for Road to Perdition? Remember when everybody was shocked to see Hanks play a contract killer, a murderer, but after seeing the movie you realize he was still just a family man. Well here Charlie Wilson is a married congressman from Texas, but don’t let that fool you because this distinguished gentleman gets down.
Have you ever seen Tom Hanks is in a hot tub with three naked women while everybody is doing coke? Only Bachelor Party came close to that. Have you ever seen a Tom Hanks movie where he shows some skin? I now have (something I’m not proud of and was shocked to see).
This movie shows a new Tom Hanks, the man ditches his squeaky clean image and still makes his character likeable. Despite all the stuff that could make this an unlikable character in some people’s eyes, Tom Hanks proves once again that he is just a likeable guy, despite all the alcohol, drugs, cursing and womanizing.
Hank’s makes Wilson a fully formed character, where you watch a man take on something that is truly bigger than him, use his power for something good and actually make a difference. All the flaws make you concentrate more because this is new ground for an actor we have watched for years. The whimsy attitude Wilson has at the beginning, playing around with his voluptuous staff, is a sharp contrast to the man he is at the end after he has been through the political machine.
Julia Roberts is where this movie starts to crack. Her character does serve a purpose but gets too much screen time. Julia plays Joanne Herring, an ultra right wing socialite who helps inform Wilson about the trouble in Afghanistan and in her spare time is a lover of the congressman. The problem with her character is that she does serve a purpose but ends up with way too much screen time for what that purpose is. Besides her opening scene of talking with Wilson about Afghanistan and a scene at a refugee camp in Pakistan where you see what she is capable of, she doesn’t have much to do. For the most part she is thrown in so Hanks has somebody else to play off of.
The biggest problem with the movie is also one of the things that makes it so entertaining, the Charlie Wilson character. Hanks is such a great actor, and Wilson is a great character but there is nothing to make you connect with him. Hanks was always able to make the audience connect with a character. When he figures out what the average audience member can latch onto to make them care the movies can be magic (Cast Away, Green Mile) and if he can’t we end up with the opposite end (Da Vinci Code, Bonfire of the Vanities).
There was nothing about Wilson I could latch onto. Now I’m not expecting to have an instant connection with a drug using, alcoholic, philandering congressman but besides a 30 second shot of Wilson alone in his apartment and a scene at the end, we never see Wilson where he is not in party mode. Even in the middle of a scandal, Wilson just gets drunk and has a fun time. We never see or hear of his home life, only the Washington life. This does not make a bad movie; it just makes an impersonal movie.
Some of this blame goes on Aaron Sorkin, the screenwriter. Now I love Sorkin, The West Wing, The American President, and A Few Good Men are all prime examples of how to take a political story and make it accessible to a wide audience without watering it down, that is almost the case here.
The film doesn’t know what side of the line it wants to ride, sometimes it is a deeply political film where references are made without explanation that add depth to character if only you know what they are talking about (the John Murtha comments come to mind) and other times it takes the formation of a covert war between four unfriendly countries and wraps it all up with two quick scenes and a belly dancer.
I would give this movie a light 7 out of 10, while you watch it you can tell everybody involved was going for something special, unfortunately the tone just doesn’t remain constant and the movie is merely good.
For what tries to be a tight 100 minute political comedy, 30 minutes of it gets distracted trying to preach about the US giving power back to the Afghani’s, ignoring them and causing the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the country eventually leading to you know what.
All intentions were good in making this movie, and it is entertaining, but it's just not the Oscar bait the filmmakers and its stars went out to make.
