Cody Clark - Daily Herald | Posted: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 11:00 pm
The George W. Bush of Oliver Stone's "W." is moresitting duck than sitting president. You'd probably have to know Bush personally to determine how accurately director Stone and screenwriter Stanley Weiser have captured his personality, but their assessment of his political acumen feels like a specious liberal fairy tale.
The movie paints its protagonist in broad strokes as a mostly glad-handing, sometimes browbeating, image-conscious doofus, a genial rube whenever the cards are in his favor, and a belligerent whiner whenever the deal goes against him. Those aren't just shadings, though, that's the total picture. I'm dubious that even people deeply frustrated by POTUS-of-the-moment's job performance believe that he's this preeningly empty-headed.
Moreover, the film's assessment of its subject arises from a frustrating blend of fact, fudges and fancy. It's true, for example, that George W. was a trusted campaign adviser during his father's successful 1988 presidential run. The late Lee Atwater, on the other hand, Bush Sr.'s campaign manager, might be surprised to learn that it was apparently "Junior," and not himself, who masterminded the Willie Horton smear of Democratic opponent Michael Dukakis.
Stone and Weiser have constructed their story along two tracks, shifting between policy meetings in the months before and after the launch of the Iraq War (in March 2003), and a selective chronological blow-by-blow of the future president's rise to political prominence. The film's "present" carries over into 2005, while its "past" begins in 1966, when "Geo" is a Yale frat pledge.
Josh Brolin does an uncanny, Oscar-level impersonation of George Jr., despite not really resembling him physically. Setting aside Stone and Weiser's extremely limited view of "Dubya's" abilities, it's a fun, fearless performance.
(The filmmakers' insistence on using Brolin as Bush Jr. from start to finish does trip them up in the earliest scenes from his life. It's plain ridiculous that viewers are asked to accept 41-year-old Brolin as an undergrad Yalie.)
Stone has never lacked for top-notch actors to stuff his political films ("Nixon," "JFK"), and in "W." he may have assembled his finest cast to date. There's excellent work by Elizabeth Banks as Geo's loyal Laura, Jeffrey Wright as Colin Powell, James Cromwell as G.H.W. and especially old pro Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney.
On the other hand, the parade of notable character players -- Ellen Burstyn, Thandie Newton, Scott Glenn, Bruce McGill, Stacy Keach -- almost becomes an end unto itself. The film doesn't benefit narratively from the 90 seconds it devotes to the intriguing real-life friendship between George W. and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, but, hey, isn't that the guy who was Mr. Fantastic?
And while Stone seems more preoccupied with capturing personalities than depicting presidential politics, the governmental machinations that he does include still feel laughably oversimplified. At times, G.W. and his top aides appear to operate in a governmental vacuum, with no obligation to answer to Congress, the voters, or even God himself.
"The West Wing" went off the air two years ago and still feels more authentic than almost everything shown here. Its punching bag president may still be in office, but "W." is behind the times.
C-
W.
Director: Oliver Stone
Cast: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, James Cromwell, Richard Dreyfuss
Running time: 2 hrs., 9 min.
Rating: PG-13 for language including sexual references, some alcohol abuse, smoking and brief disturbing war images
Location: Opens Friday at theaters everywhere