Charlie Wilson’s War (***1/2)

Texas senator procures financing for covert war against Soviets. What great material for a comedy! But it actually is in this retelling based on the nonfiction book by George Crile. Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) was best known, if at all, as a playboy, and as the movie opens we find him charming a couple of much younger women in a hot tub, pausing just long enough to take in a TV news report on the latest news from Afghanistan, where the Soviet army is consolidating its hold following the 1979 invasion. All I remember about that was being pissed off that it caused Jimmy Carter to boycott the Moscow Olympics the next year, which had no discernible impact on the Kremlin. And neither, apparently, did the CIA’s meager efforts to aid the Afghans. Enter Wilson, who, using that same charm, a position on a defense subcommittee, and the assistance of a conservative socialite (Julia Roberts) and an insubordinate agent (Philip Seymour Hoffman), managed to get Congress to appropriate funds to arm the Afghan mujihadeen.

Mike Nichols (The Graduate), who directed the underrated Clintonian drama Primary Colors, has made a different kind of political movie here, one that may appeal to people who aren’t ordinarily fascinated by politics. It will, however, appeal to people who liked The West Wing, whose creator Aaron Sorkin is responsible for the smart dialogue and economical script. In well under two hours, Sorkin and Nichols make what must have been an arduous process look something like fun. Of course, wars, cold and otherwise, aren’t fun, and there’s just enough in there to remind us of that, but mostly this movie is about outsize personalities, not history. Hanks and Roberts are ideally cast, and Hoffman, having a banner year with The Savages and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, seems to be having a blast as blowsy CIA man Gust Avrakotos. The ending is a reminder that some of the mujihadeen of the 1980s became the Taliban of the 1990s, but that’s another story, and this movie succeeds by keeping it concise.

IMDB link

reviewed 1/13/08