Stone’s attempted biopic caricatures politics
George W. Bush is one of the most interesting characters of our time. He comes from an exceptionally posh background, once had a university-level love of alcohol, has earned his own word for faux pas and still managed to serve as president for the better part of a decade.
That last sentence can also serve as a summary for “W.,” the almost-anticipated, almost-biopic of our 43rd president.
It is a sloppy movie for a director as masterful as Oliver Stone (“World Trade Center”). He never reaches any peaks, never makes any revelations and managed to serve as president for the better part of a decade.leaves viewers with a pigeonholed version of Bush’s life up to the 2004 election. If anything, the movie is a blunt object in describing the only president most of us have been able to vote for or against.
“W.” is not exactly an unfair portrait of Bush –- it’s more of a slightly tilted version of it.
Stone introduces Bush (Josh Brolin, “No Country for Old Men”), with the then-future president waist deep in ice water, visibly drunk and correctly spouting off the names and nicknames of 40 fraternity brothers as part of a hazing ritual.
But despite these attempts at a fair portrayal of the president, the movie never rises above caricature for any of the major figures in 21st century politics.
Political adviser Karl Rove, played by Toby Jones (“The Mist”), literally emerges from the shadows when advocating poll numbers over policy to Bush. Then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (Scott Glenn, “Nights in Rodanthe”) takes a large bite of pie after Bush announces he won’t eat sweets to show solidarity with the troops in Iraq.
Vice President Dick Cheney (Richard Dreyfuss, “Poseidon”) attempts to marginalize the president at almost every turn.
Brolin’s Bush accent seems more at home in Saturday Night Live than it does in the president.
It’s like Stone wanted to make a serious movie but could never take it seriously.
Dreyfuss fights for screen time with Jack Daniels. Bushisms plague the everyday language of the president and Bush’s primary motivations are his family legacy and success as a way to “prove to y’all that I could do it.”
“Love me now?” Brolin adds to a father that, in the movie, always cared more about the other son.
The cinematography serves to leave the viewer with additional head wounds -– in one war room prayer scene during the Iraq War, the camera pans lower and lower until the view gives Bush a halo.
Numerous other flaws of omission plague the movie, like the absence of the 2000 election. But it is what it is -– a failed character study -– and it holds no information for informed viewers, clueless viewers or even those wanting a simple lampoon of our president.
‘W.’
Release Date: October 17
Director: Oliver Stone
Starring: Josh Brolin, Toby Jones, Richard Dreyfuss, Scott Glenn, and Elizabeth Banks
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama
Rating: PG-13 for language including sexual references, some alcohol abuse, smoking and brief disturbing war images.
Grade:
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October 24th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Josh Brolin did a convincing Dubya, though he reminded me a lot of his cowboy character from No Country for Old Men… over all, i don’t doubt that ‘W.’ will have the effect Oliver Stone desired
October 24th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
PG-13 for some alcohol abuse , SMOKING????????
Hell, when I went to UNR,we could smoke in class! But then again, we had Friday afternoon keggers in the Nye Hall parking lot.