W.

W. is a biography directed and produced by Oliver Stone. He has always been somewhat of a mystery to me. When he hits the mark, his movies are awesomely entertaining. Born on the Fourth of July, JFK, Nixon, The People vs. Larry Flynt were all big winners in my book. This one, unfortunately, missed the mark by a mile.





I think that Oliver Stone went at this movie all wrong. First, I think the timing did him a disservice. In a moment when we had all seen enough of President Bush, we certainly didn't need a movie reminding us of the last 8 years when we were still living it.

Secondly, I think he tried to be a bit even handed to appeal to everyone in the political spectrum. It was a novel approach but it didn't seem to ring true. He did his share of bashing, making him appear to be a puppet, a drunk, and an illegitimate member of our society. But what that did was almost make you feel sorry for the man. And with that, it made me a bit embarrassed for our country.

He also tried to do too much. He tried to rehash everything from his college days at Yale all the way through current. It was too much to jam into a two hour film. Cramming all of that time into two hours made it feel sloppy and convoluted. He would have been better suited to pick a 10-15 year period and delve into it. Make us understand the rationale behind the decisions, the motivating factors, and help us understand the relationship with his cabinet.

Finally, I think Stone spent way too much time and energy on making the characters physically identical to the people they were portraying. Josh Brolin did a fabulous job playing the title role. I really felt like I was actually watching George bumble through the past eight years. Cheney, Rice, Rove, Franks, they all looked spot on. I do believe that Elizabeth Banks was mis-cast. Why pick a young, A-list girl and age her by 30 years and make her as boring as Laura?

The movie just needed more. It was all sizzle and no steak, if you know what I mean. And probably the most interesting dynamic that could have been portrayed, Colin Powell and W., was largely ignored. They made Powell look like an immature bumbling fool and I thought that was just completely wrong.

No matter which side of the fence you sit politically, I don't imagine too many people thinking that this was a well done film. It was a big dissapointment for me. I would rather watch a Saturday Night Live skit bashing him. At least it would have been amusing.

2 stars and a yawn.