Tuesday, January 1, 2008

“CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR"

(Tom Hanks, Phillip Seymour Hoffman & Julia Roberts)

I loved this film – 2nd best of the year so far. Why? A perfect blend of ‘serious’ story with many funny lines, at times it is laugh out loud hilarious; especially the banter between Tom Hanks’ Congressman (Charlie Wilson) & Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s rogue C.I.A. agent Gust.The gist of the story is bleak – the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan & how that country (& the world) seemed helpless to do anything about it. Until an alcoholic Congressman from Texas sees a news report by Dan Rather & decides something must be done.Wilson is eventually introduced to Gust; an off-the-wall agent who is working on a plan to counter the Soviets invasion with 3 other guys. Together, Charlie & Gust figure a way to get Soviet weapons into the hands of the Afghanis so they can fight back without it appearing obvious that the U.S. is supplying the arms.From his first appearance to his last, Phillips Seymour Hoffman’s performance is a total ‘hoot’ – a simply marvelous character actor portraying a completely original off-the-wall role to perfection.Julia Roberts plays a Texas millionaire who loves to back causes - & fellow Texan Charlie brings her a doozy.

I have never liked Julia Roberts in ANY movie she’s EVER been in – until now. She not only isn’t a minus here, she stays in character & plays her role quite nicely; she actually made me laugh out loud with a single word – ‘Sluts.’Amy Adams has a modest role as Charlie’s right-hand woman & though it is severely subdued compared to her over-the-top knock out performance in “Enchanted”, she makes it work here by being practically un-noticeable. Charlie & Gust are the characters to watch here & Amy stands aside & let’s them do their thing.Charlie’s office is filled with a plethora of attractive, busty females (The youngest of which is nicknamed ‘Jailbait’) & is the setting for a hilarious sequence when Agent Gust first meets Congressman Wilson for the first time while Charlie becomes entangled in a possible career-ending investigation into his private life & use of ‘not exactly recreational’ stimulants.

Hanks & Hoffman play off one another so well - it left me hoping they find another project to work on together in the near future. It is the interplay between the devil-may-care future rehab inhabitant Congressman & the ‘screw-your-rules, I get results’ C.I.A. agent that makes this movie a joy to watch.The only thing that will keep this from being nominated for Best Picture is the Academy’s inclination to snub anything humorous – But for me, it is easily one of the 5 Best movies of 2007.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

tom hank nogood no more. need to retir. this not good. fall asleep. fat guy ok. fall asleep.

Anonymous said...

great movie. made my top 5 of 2007.
psh steals it from hanks tho.

Anonymous said...

But I hope you don't agree with Anonymous & think Tom should retir?
I was surprised it wasn't nominated instead of "Juno" or the abysmal "Atonement" - the other movie I wanted to see up for Best Picture was Philip Seymour Hoffman's "Before The Devil Knows You're Dead" (& that got zippo nominations!)

Anonymous said...

This too made my top 5 of 2007. In fact, our list is almost exactly the same but except one movie.
Do you have a top 10 for the year ? I'd be interested in seeing it.
This movie is very good because of the writing. Aaron Sorkin of West Wing fame, was robbed of a Oscar nomination for Adapted Screenplay.
Now onto some other movie reviews.

Anonymous said...

My Top 5 were '3:10 To Yuma',
'Michael Clayton', 'Charlie Wilson's War', 'No Country For Old Men' & 'Before The Devil Knows You're Dead'
6-10 would include, 'Lars & The Real Girl','Eastern Promises', 'Into The Wild', 'There Will Be Blood' & well, can I have a Grace tie between 'Grace Is Gone' & 'Amazing Grace' ?
Others that could be considered are 'The Hunting Party', 'Death At A Funeral', 'Talk To Me', 'The Great Debaters', 'The Look Out', 'I Am Legend', 'Black Snake Moan', 'Walk Hard:The Dewey Cox Story', 'Rescue Dawn', 'Enchanted', 'He Was A Quiet Man', 'The Bucket List',
'1408' & 'The Simpsons Movie'