Hola all. Massawyrm here.

It’s rare to find a mixed bag as heavily mixed as is this weekend’s indie underdog War, Inc. On one hand it is a bizarre, heavy handed, near-future sci-fi comedy acting as a full frontal assault on what has been done to this country over the last 7 years – but doing so with all the careless wit and obnoxious bravado of the most garish of protestors. But on the other, it is also a wonderfully woven story with delicious character work by a truly gifted cast who seem completely unaware that their film is being shot on the set of an awful, awful movie. No, War, Inc. is one of those rare films that I am still truly oscillating on days later – both loving it and loathing it depending on which scene I’m thinking about at the time.

In what could easily be a twisted, bizzaroworld sequel to Grosse Point Blank, John Cusack returns as the troubled, depressed hitman who can kill anyone who so much as looks at him funny with merely a ball point pen and a tilt of the head. He’s hired by the Vice President to kill a Prime Minister (or somesuch) named Omar Sharif. Not only is that joke as unfunny as it sounds, it is made even moreso by someone asking “Wait the actor or the Prime Minister,” leaving one to wonder what the point of the joke was at all. And it is that kind of nonsensical world into which he is flung, as he poses as a trade show executive pimping reconstruction contracts in a country we are currently bombing the shit out of. Rife with humor just shy of being this side of a Seltzer/Friedberg comedy, we are forced to endure mindless, over the top indulgences including a military base of operations being headquartered in a Churches Chicken and American advertising being plastered on anything and everything that moves.

Yeah. There are some painful minutes in here that made me wonder just who it was that was crying out and demanding a low budget sequel to Southland Tales, because there are times when this is exactly what this is. It’s practically the same world, only without the wave machine and midgets.

But that isn’t nearly the whole film. Because once we’ve set up the gags, and watched the Vice President (Dan Ackroyd) deliver a layout of just how satirical a world this is set in, War, Inc. shifts into telling a story. And despite its over the top nature, regardless of how many times you roll your eyes at the ineffectual humor and no matter how much you think these characters are bitter stereotypes – there really is a human heart beating beneath this. And it is one very much worth watching.

John Cusack’s greatest talent is his ability to make an audience fall in love with him and his dysfunction. No matter how screwed up he is, no matter how bleak, black or depressed his heart, you always feel for him. At this point he could play John Wayne Gacy and just give the camera a look and that boyish shrug and the audience would awwwwww no mater how many boy scouts he buried under his porch. So regardless of the hitman-on-a-mission-to-kill-an-innocent-man thing, you’re kinda rooting for him to do it. Then when Marissa Tomei shows up as the love interest, you really start to root for him. And before you know it, you’ve almost forgotten about this madcap, Strangelove-wannabe world and you surrender to what really is an interesting story about how empty a man has to be to do these kinds of things for his government. Even when he doesn’t want to.

And much like every solid Cusack piece, he’s surrounded by a bevy of talent that all seem blissfully unaware that their characters a cardboard cutouts meant to be waved in the air and laughed at – as each one tries to find the soul of the stereotype they’re in. Joan Cusack is Joan Cusack, proving once again that she is about as funny as they come and plays up the angry-neurotic comedy she’s famous for. Ben Kingsley slips into the role of the evil government type and delivers one of the funniest moments on film I’ve seen in a long, long time – despite how base it is, it really is one hell of a funny sequence.

And dear god, Hillary Duff emerges from her cotton candy pop princess existence and delivers a real, honest to god performance that is every bit as creepy as it should be. Look, I’ve seen (and reviewed) FAR too many of her films. I’m no fan. But I will say this – if there’s one girl out there who has every right to parody the oversexed, bimbo popstress cliché, it’s the pop princess who’s kept herself out of the tabloids and has kept her image pretty wholesome. And it helps that despite mocking the whole pop bimbo oeuvre, she plays the character with a soul, as this fucked up little girl who has been pimped out 50 times too many to make a buck or seal a deal. She’s not portrayed as sexy, but genuinely creepy, like watching your daughter dance on a stripper pole for your brother. And Duff comes off very well – not like she has in the past as a popstar trying to be an actress…but the other way around. If you’ve never liked Duff, this is the role that will change your mind.

But I can’t get past just how fucked up weird this movie is. At times it is positively surreal – but not in a good way. It is at times awkward, clunky and just downright terrible. And just when you think you’ve had enough, the film takes a left turn back into a story that you actually care about. All in all I’d have to say this is something that Cusack fans should definitely have on their radar, and something indie lovers might want to give a look. But it really is something of kooky experiment. I admire what they’re trying to do – just not entirely how they go about doing it. Tread with caution on this one.

Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.

Massawyrm

Got something for the Wyrm? Mail it here.