Movie Reviews

Francois Duhamel/Universal Studios

Review in a Hurry:  Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman hatch a plan to defeat the Soviet Union in this uneven movie that spends a lot of time in misty-eyed nostalgia for those Cold War days when the Afghans were shooting at Russians instead of us.

The Bigger Picture:  Charlie Wilson (Hanks) is a good ol' boy from Texas elected to Congress back in the days when boinking every woman on your office staff wasn't considered sexual harassment.

At the urging of wealthy political donor Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts, decked out in an embarrassing series of wigs), he gets serious about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and starts working behind the scenes with cynical CIA case officer Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to get the U.S. to fund a covert war.

The movie really snaps when Hanks and Hoffman are firing screenwriter Aaron Sorkin's dialogue back and forth, discussing arms deals with deadpan humor. This is the role Hoffman was made for: a schlubby Cold Warrior who fights his office battles with black-ops tactics. Hanks is most alive when the two are onscreen together, and their verbal sparring is worth the price of admission.

But things drag when they get earnest. Charlie sees the light in an Afghan refugee camp, where he meets with kids who've lost limbs to Soviet landmines. Only his revelation looks hollow when the actual war, with the actual fighting and dying, is presented in a montage shorter than the lap dance Charlie arranges for the Egyptian defense minister.

Not only that, if there's a screen couple with less chemistry than Hanks and Roberts, we can't think of it. Part of the problem is that Roberts is barely in the movie; judging from how she looks in a bikini, she fit her scenes around Pilates classes.

Still, it's fun to see this as a more serious sequel to Hanks' early effort Volunteers—a trio of well-meaning Americans out to save the world, regardless of the consequences.

The 180—a Second Opinion:  Call us crazy, but we're not sure people want to hear more about war in the Middle East at a time we're neck-deep in it on a daily basis.