Nov 19 2008
W.
Dir: Oliver Stone
Writ: Stanley Weiser
- Josh Brolin … George W. Bush
- Elizabeth Banks … Laura Bush
- Ellen Burstyn … Barbara Bush
- James Cromwell … George Herbert Walker Bush
- Richard Dreyfuss … Dick Cheney
- Ioan Gruffudd … Tony Blair
This is an odd sort of a film. I mean, it clearly isn’t meant to be full of praise for George W. Bush. But at the same time it is almost gentle in its treatment of him. Presenting him as a somewhat simple-minded, but well-intentioned, fool. With Daddy Issues.
The film cuts back and forward in time. From W. as a drunk, to W. as president. It looks at his relationship with his father. With that decision not to go after Saddam in the first Gulf War and W.’s insistence that America do so in the second. And every so often inter-cutting W. and his love of baseball.
I enjoyed it. I suppose. But it really isn’t anything special. The acting is all fine and well, but it lacks any real sort of insight. If you are going to have a character-study, even a humourous one, then you really need to study the main character. Instead we seem to get a collection of scenes from George W. Bush’s life. Maybe we’re supposed to provide the analysis ourselves, I dunno, it just didn’t really work for me.
One to save for the dvd release I think.
Tags: 6 Stars, bio, biopic, comedy, Elizabeth Banks, Ellen Burstyn, George W. Bush, Ioan Gruffudd, James Cromwell, Josh Brolin, Oliver Stone, Richard Dreyfuss, Stanley Weiser, W.