“Charlie Wilson’s War” is a curious film, one that’s top-heavy with talent (does it get better than Hanks AND Hoffman?) and nonetheless suffers from a bad case of “previewitis.”
This, of course, is a nasty little bug that so many films catch (“The Heartbreak Kid” comes to mind). The chief symptom is that the film’s trailer (and “Charlie Wilson’s” appears on TV roughly every eight seconds) uses up all the sharpest lines and makes the movie seem meatier than it is. Such is the case with “Charlie Wilson’s War,” a political comedy with great performances that doesn’t cut as deep as it could.
Still, the backstory is the stuff of legend: It’s 1980, and boozing, womanizing Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson (Hanks) finds himself mired in one scandal — usually involving cocaine, or strippers, or booze, or hot tubs, or all of the above — after another.
The fact that the U.S. budget for opposing the USSR in Afghanistan is a paltry $5 million matters little to him. Then he catches the eye of billionaire Joanne Herring (Roberts), who convinces him to boost funding to help provide Afghan Mujahideen (“freedom fighters”) with weapons to bring down Soviet helicopters. Enter Gust Avrakotos (Hoffman), an overlooked, frustrated CIA operative with smarts and guts to ruin the Soviets.
The rest is, well, history for those in the know (or a quick Wikipedia search for those — like yours truly — that aren’t).
The film is flawed, though not unforgivably so. Clocking in at a brisk 97 minutes, “Charlie Wilson’s War” makes the rare mistake of being too short, too tightly constructed, too crisply edited. Perhaps director Mike Nichols wanted to avoid creating a dreary history lesson, but he glides past some facts that could have proved useful. One example is the fact that Wilson’s efforts, however indirectly, helped arm future al-Qaeda operatives is left unexplored (unless Wilson’s quote at the film’s end counts as “closure”).
A sharper, edgier film wouldn’t have shied away from this issue; “Charlie Wilson’s War,” it’s sad to say, does.
Then there’s Roberts. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Sporting a horrendously fake yellow pompadour, she’s wooden and dull and utterly lifeless as Herring. (Where oh where is that “Erin Brockovich” energy when you need it?)
Perhaps the time off has caused Roberts to lose her acting instincts, or maybe she committed to this part for the money. Whatever the reason, Roberts’ stacked hairdo is far livelier (and a better actress) than she is. If only her hair could have done all the talking, the performance might have been more satisfying.
Lucky for viewers, though, Roberts gets precious little screen time. This leaves ample time for screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (“The West Wing” ring a bell?) to inject the script with enough quips and zingers to keep things lively. For example, when Wilson’s asked why Congress “says one thing and does nothing,” his response is both laconic and blistering: “Well, tradition mostly.” Hoffman gets the best lines, including a most memorable response to his boss’s request that he “take a moment to reflect” on his character flaws.
Interesting, too, is the way director Mike Nichols plays with stereotypes. Wilson’s office is entirely staffed by young, attractive women, but they’re hardly mindless, busty bimbos. In fact, they’re all intelligent, ambitious women, and Wilson treats them as such (minus a few less-than-professional nicknames). His assistant (sweetly played by the ever-fantastic Amy Adams) is no dummy, either; she accepts her boss’s flaws and he treats her like much more than a P.Y.T. who fetches him coffee and fancies about with press releases.
Yet it’s Hanks and Hoffman that give the film all of its emotional heft. Hanks, always an amiable, likable fellow, downplays Wilson’s lust for women. Instead, he channels his energy into sly, quiet humor (his response to a criticism about his character from Pakistan’s president is priceless). Through Hanks, we see slight changes in Wilson’s priorities and emotions, and they seem wholly believable.
What Wilson sees has a strong effect on him, makes him a deeper character, tests his already Saltine-thin moral fiber. Ultimately, Hanks makes Wilson less of a lech and more of a sympathetic antihero.
And yet it’s Hoffman who energizes “Charlie Wilson’s War” in a way no other actor can. Always a dynamite performer, Hoffman relishes his role as foul-mouthed, ill-tempered and whip-smart Avrakotos.
He never flubs a line, never mars an expression, never misses an opportunity to draw laughs. (Watch the scene where he meets Wilson for the first time — it plays like a “Three Stooges” routine, only smarter, less goofy and with better comic timing.) Here, Hoffman turns in yet another award-caliber performance. He steals every scene he’s in, and when he’s not onscreen you wish he was. Yes, he’s that good.
Which makes it all the more sad, then, that the film can’t quite measure up to those standards.
