Charlie Wilson's War

There's a Blockbuster a block away from my apartment and about once a month they do a four for $20 DVD sale. I am unable to pass this up even though the inevitable time crunch happens and I have stacks of unwatched DVD's sitting around (a good portion of which are some random titles that I picked up to fill up my four). This is one step in a continual effort to get through the monstrosity.

I actually saw Charlie Wilson's War when it came out in theaters and was curious to see how it held up on repeat viewing. I am a huge Aaron Sorkin fan evidenced by the fact that I think The West Wing is one of television's great series, and even though it had its flaws I consider the premature cancellation of Studio 60 as one of the great injustices (right after the cancellation of Firefly and Pushing Daisies) in television history. This is just a long way of saying you can say I was predisposed to enjoying the film.

One of the joys of watching a Sorkin production for me is the dialogue. Much like Woody Allen films, I don't care what the subject matter is as much as I just enjoy hearing the style in which the film written. If anything the actors are just vehicles for the writing, and as a result its sometime a mistake for too high profile an actor to be in his productions since they often have too many familiar mannerisms to let the material breathe. In this case the concern surrounded Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts (we all know Phillip Seymour Hoffman would rock), and I think Hanks pulls it off, Roberts not so much. She wasn't horrible, but it just never looked like she was quite comfortable with the role. I do think part of this impression has to with the fact that I her chracter to be the least essential to the plot and as a result the least interesting.

Otherwise the film is solid all the way through. Its a nice example of Sorkin's work, and the scene in Hank's office the first time he an Hoffman's character meet is one of the best written and acted sequences you'll see in a movie. The main drawbacks are when the film tries to deal with the story's big historical issues which, due to the film's time limitations, it it has to do in a fairly superficial manner. This is a minor quibble though that didn't significantly detract from my viewing enjoyment. The film has a compelling story, with interesting characters and excellent dialougue. Its worth your time especially if you enjoyed Sorkin's previous work.

Anyway that's one down in the stack, way too many to go.