Blog Review: W.

Directed by: Oliver Stone

Written by: Stanley Weiser.

Produced by: Tom Ortenberg, Bill Block

Starring: Josh Brolin, Richard Dreyfuss, Toby Jones

Hyped as a parody of possibly he worst president in U.S. history W. manages to pull off an ideally simple film with only moderate success. It does not feel as if the actors can’t get the film off the ground, in fact, Josh Brolin manages to play a truly magnificent role as George W. Bush going from life of privilege to commander in chief. However, it seems that director Oliver Stone and screenwriter Stanley Weiser simply do not agree on whether to bash the president or to simply leave the issue alone. Whatever the case may be the movie stutters, ironically, in the same way our ex President George W. Bush once did.      

Like many Oliver Stone films,  W. focuses on one man, George W. Bush (Josh Brolin) the focus is always on him: His personality, his addiction, his insecurities, his unwavering faith in a mission from God, his yearning to prove himself, his inability to deal with those who advise him. In the film, most of the decisions of his presidency were shaped and placed in his hands by the crafty vice president Dick Cheney (Richard Dreyfuss) and the political mastermind Karl Rove (Toby Jones). However, Unlike Stone's "Nixon," this film revises no part of the president’s life. Everything including the scenes behind closed doors, is now pretty much familiar from books written by former Bush aides, and reporting by  reporters such as Bob Woodward.

Throughout the movie however, the political bias of stone makes it clear that if Bush had only become commissioner of baseball, we would all be better off. Obviously, Stone released the movie during the election as if to remind us all what happens when we vote the wrong man in because he looks like a fighter or someone we would all like to have a beer with. Brolin plays him well; the confusion is palpable even when he's asked to answer a question on the fly, the pain of being Daddy's second-favorite son even when he uses the Iraq invasion to avenge his father.

At its best, W. is a father-son story. Near the end, Stone shows a scene with Dubya and Dad trading punches in the Oval Office. Although a great  it is the kind you expect to see more of More of that, and W. would have been a movie that makes sense of Bush's legacy instead of excuses.