Oliver Stone's W., Starring Josh Brolin
With Richard Dreyfuss, James Cromwell, Ellen Burstyn
Oct 20, 2008
After watching W., the casual viewer would be hard-pressed to understand why George W. Bush has been dubbed the "Worst President Ever" by many historians, and why his approval rating has reached Nixonian levels on more than one occasion. The George Bush portrayed so skillfully by Josh Brolin is missing a critical component: the smirk, the meanness, the sheer nasty pettiness of the man.
Where was the man who blew up frogs by sticking lit firecrackers up their rear ends? Where is the man who famously mocked Karla Faye Tucker, the first woman to ever be sentenced to death in Texas, by mocking her plea for mercy on camera? Where is the man who happily claimed to have "hit the trifecta" after the attacks of September 11th? Where is the man who instigated the insurgents in Iraq by saying "Bring 'em on?" And where is the man who ran several businesses into the ground and bankrupted the Treasury with his reckless incompetence?
In the Shadow of His Father and Brother
Director Oliver Stone leaves all this on the cutting room floor. Instead, he chooses to focus on W.'s issues with his remote, disapproving father (a wonderfully indecisive James Cromwell), supportive but distant mother (Ellen Burstyn, perfectly cast) and smarter brother Jeb (whom the senior Bushes hoped would run for President). From W.'s fraternity days until his born-again conversion after his 40th birthday, George Jr. was the life of the party and the black sheep of the family. Then, after receiving the call from his father in 1988, George and Laura Bush moved to Washington to help Poppy with his Presidential run. Enter Karl Rove, aka "Turd Blossom" (played to perfection by Toby Peters), who helped Bush Sr. "Willie Hortonize" Michael Dukakis and speak in born-again code. Electoral magic was born - and W. decided to go into the family business of politics.
Finding Love With Laura
The lovely and charming Elizabeth Banks plays Laura Bush in W., and unfortunately, she is completely wasted in the role, since she has been given no guidance whatsoever as to what makes the First Lady tick. Their courtship is portrayed as a traditional, touching love story, with no mention of the fact that the young Laura Welch killed her ex-boyfriend in a drunk-driving accident, and any discussion of her substance abuse problems goes by the wayside as well. Her meager credentials as a librarian are given greater prominence than they deserve, and when she asks her beloved "Gee O" to put education first should he gain office, the movie never follows up on how abjectly he has failed to do so with No Child Left Behind.
The War In Iraq
Shockingly, director Stone appears to completely absolve Bush of any responsibility for the disastrous decision to invade Iraq. He shows Dick Cheney (Richard Dreyfuss, in an exceptional performance) and Colin Powell (Terrence Howard) arguing about when, how, and whether to go in. Scott Glenn weighs in as the delusional Donald Rumsfeld, and Thandie Newton cartoonishly portrays the unpleasantly obsequious Condoleezza Rice. Yet Bush is misinformed as to Saddam's WMD capabilities. He is misled, misunderstood and misunderestimated. He's just a sincere guy doing the best he can, without the emotional and intellectual capacity to fully realize his dreams of empire. Poor W.!
A Fatally Flawed Biopic
Oliver Stone has tried too hard to understand and be "fair" to George W. Bush, and wasted a fine cast in the effort. In the end, the viewer feels that W. stands for "Why?", and that the film has provided no coherent answers to that question.
