Share Email Print RSS

A Misunderestimated Film

In our troubled political times, the name George W. Bush still stirs up a lot of contentious opinions from the public at large. Is he the courageous leader that led the United States into battle in the name of patriotic pride in the aftermath of Sept. 11 or is he, as Paul Begala called him in front of a national audience, a high-functioning moron? 

In truth, he is perhaps the single most unpopular commander in chief of the modern era, but his supporters should be pleased to note that "W.," the much-anticipated biopic about the life and times of the maligned president is a far more fair and balanced portrait of a man in crisis than the trailers seemed to suggest.

It seemed all but impossible, but it is clear that chief GOP blight Oliver Stone , the headline-grabbing director of a string of far more urgent political hot potatoes, has managed to steer clear of outrageous political satire and scathing smear campaign tactics in an attempt to get inside the head of the "misunderestimated" president.

In spite of a strong performance from Josh Brolin in the title role, the chief shortcoming of the director's third feature-film to hinge on a modern-era president comes off as more of a crude cartoon rough draft of the behind-the-scenes machinations of recent politics than the ultimate bio of the man that made them.

It is after all much too soon for that. There is a great film to be made here, and he is the right director for it, but this rushed high-concept muddle of politics and humor isn't it.



The character of W. has inherent dramatic potential to spare (the loose-cannon college era, the alcoholism, the conflicted paternal relationship that spurs him to succeed, the rise to political prominence and the fateful decision to declare battle on Iraq), but the unfortunate "I didn't get enough attention from dad!" thesis of the film is handled in an amateurish manner. 

The light-hearted pre-presidential section, a humorous alcohol-fueled glimpse at the numerous romantic affairs, academic indifference and burgeoning political education of the future president, is a lot of fun. There are a lot of cheap punchlines -- the chopped together script gets a lot of comic mileage out of Bush's dubious intellect and his much-documented flubs of the English language -- but it is not boring and Brolin's self-confident transformation carries things right along. He is not pretending to be Bush, he is Bush and it is a performance that I suspect is going to stand the test of time.



In the more serious-minded second half, the much-touted presidential scenes don't contain the requisite dramatic heft that is needed for them to ring true, and the film's ultimate impact suffers as a result. Instead of real dramatic attachment to the actions of the characters, there is a ridiculous comic element at our first glimpses of  Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney, Scott Glenn as Donald Rumsfeld, Jeffrey Wright as Colin Powell, Thandie Newton as Condi Rice and Ellen Burstyn as Barbara Bush. 



It doesn't help that most of the main characters are seen as one-dimensional cartoon characters and the actors are being encouraged to mug for the cameras as much as possible. Since none of the actors get much of a chance to shine, no one is going to be changing their opinions about their famous characters.



There are a couple of good scenes to be sure -- in particular the attempts from Secretary of State Colin Powell to argue for a prudent course on Iraq and George Sr.'s reluctance to declare himself "born again" in order to get political support -- but Stone regurgitates information that has been reported ad nauseum on CNN and MSNBC instead of turning it into must-see entertainment. 



In struggling to get a handle on the man, Stone reduces Bush to a single cliché-ridden metaphorical moment that is, to be honest, cringe-inducing.

In the opening and closing imagined sequence that frames the film, Bush is seen standing alone in the outfield of a baseball stadium to loud cheers of applause but still chasing the attention of a father figure that isn't there. It is clear that he feels bad for him and I did too, almost.

It is a sad scene since there is perhaps no other director that has had more long-standing influence in shaping and challenging our political arguments than Stone and here he is going through the motions. It is not daring, button-pushing or all that entertaining, it is beside the point.