Academy Award® winners Tom Hanks Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman star in this compelling and witty film from Oscar®-winning director Mike Nichols and Primetime Emmy®-winning writer Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing). Based on the outrageous true story Charlie Wilson's War shows how one congressman who loved a good time one Houston socialite who loved a good cause and one renegade CIA agent who loved a good fight conspired to bring about the largest covert operation in history.System Requirements:Running Time: 102 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY Rating: R UPC: 025195004831 Manufacturer No: 61100565
Political movies about backroom negotiations need not be dry or heavy-handed, as Charlie Wilson's War delightfully proves. Based on the true story of playboy congressman Wilson's efforts to fund Afghanistan's defense against the Soviet invasion of the 1980s, the film is borne along on breezy attitude and a peppery script by West Wing scribe Aaron Sorkin. Wilson, played by Tom Hanks (who also produced), is the perfect hero for this kind of tale, because there's nothing perfect or heroic about him: He's a highball-swilling, fanny-pinching gadabout who becomes radicalized on the issue of helping the Afghans against their mighty aggressor. He has help in the form of a right-wing Texas anti-Communist (Julia Roberts) with a genius for raising money, and a sardonic CIA operative (Philip Seymour Hoffman, stealing the show) who lacks all the social skills Wilson has in abundance. Sorkin's syncopated speech is just the ticket for director Mike Nichols, who understands exactly how to keep this kind of political comedy popping (the complicated story comes in at a hair over 90 minutes, amazingly). Some scoundrels are on the right side of the angels, and the movie's Charlie Wilson is one of them. --Robert Horton
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Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
MIKE NICHOLS, OPUS 20:
***1/2 2007. Based on George Crile's Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times and directed by Mike Nichols. Academy award nomination for Hoffman and five Golden Globe nominations. Washington, 1980. A bored American congressman, enthralled by the Afghan war, tries to obtain secret funds in order to buy modern arms for the Afghan guerrilla warfare. I was a little surprised by some of the reviewers here which... more info
Great movie for the older members of a family:
Tom Hawks and Julia Roberts do a good job, but I really think Philip Hoffman who is exceptional as the old, crusty, operative. My wife and I bought the DVD for our viewing and watched a couple of times when our son and daughter borrowed it to watch it with their friends. Everyone has really enjoyed it.
A droll little "Charlie Wilson's War":
It's been a long time since I've seen a comedy which doesn't have to depend on toilet or sex jokes to make it funny but instead have great dialogue and an excellent cast in order for it to succeed. This film succeeds in spade due to Aaron Sorkin's(The West Wing, A Few Good Men) witty script and top notch performances from Tom Hanks as Wilson and Phillip Seymour Hoffman in an Oscar-nominated supporting performance as a CIA operative. Julia Roberts is also good as the Texas heiress but all the great lines are... more info
Its a great story and Phillip Seymour Hoffman is VERY entertaining in it:
This would be a 3.5* movie, except that Phillip Seymoour Hoffman absolutely nails his character and has some outstanding dialogue which is just hilarious. My favorite PSH character since Boggie Nights.
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