W (Cert 15)
Film Review
America's outgoing comedian in chief is prone to getting his words correct, just not usually in the correct order.
He drawls: "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." Ouch.
He also said he'd be long gone before some "smart person" ever figures out what happened inside his Oval Office.
Well, he got that wrong. After JFK and Nixon, this is Hollywood provocateur Oliver Stone's third film about a US president. And Given Bush's inclination for foot in mouth disease and the Iraq War's immediacy, he's an easy target, and, apparently ripe for the picking.
Given Stone's history of tackling controversial subjects from the left-field, you'd expect W to be edgy, compulsive viewing. Instead, we have a fairly tame, and standard biopic.
Stone's approach at times is almost sympathetic. It seems he genuinely wants to know what makes the man tick. It's certainly no hatchet job. But you are still left in no doubt wondering how this buffoon ever made it to the top. Money has a lot to answer for.
We see him struggle with his personal demons. Be it alcohol or living in the shadow of his father. All his life he attempts to prove himself to him.
Essentially a drunken failure until the age of 40, the film reveals how W found God to make an incredible turnaround that led him to be one of the most powerful and divisive figures in recent world history.
He was truly an improbable president. A mediocre student, who, thanks to his silver spoon, made it into Harvard's prestigious Business School.
He married smart though, romancing Laura Welch (Elizabeth Banks), a teacher, who is far more clever than he is and continually offers a loving shoulder of moral support in his many battles.
The film bounces back and forth from Bush's privileged youth to his first term in office up until the invasion of Iraq.
The problem is everything for us is still current. We discover little we didn't know before about the man or his politics. It's like watching a well made, big budget BBC docudrama with an all-star cast which Stone hopes are feel-a-likes rather than look-a-likes. The results are mixed.
As W, Josh Brolin nails the body language and at times bears an uncanny resemblance to the 43rd President. His performance is more of an interpretation than an impersonation. He is excellent.
Other key players include Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney, Scott Glenn as Donald Rumsfeld, Jeffrey Wright as Colin Powell and Thandie Newton as Condoleezza Rice. Dreyfuss is outstanding, but Newton is just annoying.
She plays Rice as a preening, nodding puppy, who dotes on every word W says (of course she may well do).
She reduces her character to no more than a caricature with a weird voice. It's a misjudged performance. Still Condoleezza should be flattered she's being played by such a beautiful actress.
But I just wonder if the timing of a Bush biopic is either too soon or too late.
After Obama's historic election this week, do we really care any more about Bush? Perhaps this film would have had more resonance if made a few years ago.
Stone struggled to win financial backing from Hollywood. Possibly they didn't want to offend the outgoing president.
But I suspect they thought the movie was simply not a good idea. Like the man the film depicts, W is a curiosity, occasionally interesting but largely unnecessary.
'Perhaps this film would have had more resonance years ago'
