Movie Review: "Charlie Wilson's War"

"Good Time Charlie."

Starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Directed by Mike Nichols. Based on the book by

The time: the 80's. Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) is a Senator from Texas that you can't help but like; the man has a charm as the day is long. We're first introduced to him when he's in drinking champagne and hanging out in a hottub with two strippers and a woman who just made the cover of Playboy, who is with a friend that wants Charlie to fund some money for "a version of 'Dallas' set in Washington." Charlie spies a TV, watching Dan Rather wearing a turban interviewing a rebel Afghani faction that is trying to drive the Russians out. This is the initial seed for what is to come.

As the movie progresses we learn more about "Good Time Charlie." He's the kind of guy that starts the morning with a shot of whiskey and has a group of secretaries and female assistants (affectionately called 'jailbait'). He's also on two committees, one of which is currently sending $5 million to Afghanistan so they can fight the Russians. With a single command of, "Double the amount," you can see that he has an amount of power. Charm, power, money, drugs, women: a definition of success.

Enter Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), the 6th richest woman in the state of Texas. She secretly hears of what Charlie does and invites him out to her mansion whereby she raises money to help the Afghanis fight for their freedom, albeit by having a female "slave" auction. She's about as far right as a rich Right wing-nut can get. After sex she tells him that he's booked on a flight to meet the President of Afghanistan, who supposedly gained his power by a military coup in which he deposed the previous ruler by taking his head.

Enter Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a CIA operative who we meet just as he's telling his boss to "f--- off!" While Gus may have the skills to evade getting killed by "people whose job it is to kill spies" for 24 years, he's probably the most apolitical person in the Agency. He moves departments just so he "can kill some Russians." When Charlie sends out an invite to Gus' boss, it's Gus who replies.