Charlie Wilson's War Release
Date:
December 21, 2007 Studio: Universal Pictures Director: Mike Nichols Screenwriter: Aaron Sorkin Starring: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams,
Ned Beatty Genre: Drama MPAA Rating: R (for strong language, nudity/sexual content and some drug
use) Official Website: CharlieWilsonsWar.net
Plot Summary: "Charlie Wilson's War" is the true story of how a playboy
congressman, a renegade CIA agent and a beautiful Houston socialite joined
forces to lead the largest and most successful covert operation in history.
Their efforts contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the
Cold War, with consequences that reverberate throughout the world today. Oscar®
winners Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman team with Academy
Award®-winning director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin to bring
George Crile's best-selling book to the screen.
Charlie Wilson (Hanks) was a bachelor congressman from Texas who had a habit of
showing up in hot tubs with strippers and cocaine. His "Good Time Charlie"
exterior, however, masked an extraordinary mind, a deep sense of patriotism and
a passion for the underdog, and in the early 1980s the underdog was
Afghanistan—which had just been brutally invaded by the Russians.
Charlie's longtime friend and patron and sometime lover was Joanne Herring
(Roberts), one of the wealthiest women in Texas and a virulent anti-communist.
Believing the American response to the Russian invasion was anemic at best, she
prods Charlie into doing more for the Mujahideen (Afghan freedom fighters).
EN 5 Second Review:
As usual Tom Hanks is spot on, and this is an excellent
movie as he and Hoffman make one great team. Julia looks good too.
With
its rapid pace, smart screenplay, and top-notch acting, this is one
of the 2007 Oscar season's most appealing and compelling adult motion
pictures James Berardinelli: Reelviews
It's a curious thing. Whenever this much talent is assembled
for a motion picture, the result inevitably seems to be a letdown. And
to say that Charlie Wilson's War is top heavy with talent is to
understate the matter. The cast features three Oscar winners and two
nominees. The director has been nominated five times and won once. The
writer is a multiple Emmy winner. The cinematographer has a couple of
Oscar nominations and the composer has six. Almost against the odds,
however, Charlie Wilson's War does not collapse under the
weight of expectations. In fact, it meets them squarely without
flinching...more
Gosh,
does this movie have it all or what? Smart dialogue, Julia
Roberts in a bikini and looking grrrrrr-eattttt, and
Russian helicopters going boom! It's also short! What's not
to love Stephen Hunter: Washington Post
This movie probably gets the Washington process better than
any since Otto Preminger's underrated "Advise & Consent" in
1962. It's not about men of virtue doing the impossible, but
men of flaws doing the doable, but just barely...more
EN 5 Second Review:
As usual Tom Hanks is spot on, and this is an excellent
movie as he and Hoffman make one great team. Julia looks good too.