Review of W. (2008) by Stephanie R — 20 Jul 2010

The weakest of Stone's "Presidential Trilogy" because it does not shed any light on the Bush presidency and little on his younger years. If anything this comes across as a perverted Capraesque tale in which the stupid wild scion of a powerful family gets drunk and avoids responsibility across the US only to be redeemed by Jesus and a good woman. Laughable except that it resembles the bold outlines of the W. story.

Unfortunately, its all too soon so without the certitude of history to make a judgement, the film has to broadly look at the White House years (which are actually much more interesting then wayward Presidents who are frankly a dime a dozen). Also, Stone seems to overly constrain his picture of Bush to be seen as even handed.

The film does achieve one thing for me: that portrait of how Bush succeeded despite his major failings. This shows at least partly his drive and connections and aw shucks Texan gung ho to aim for higher and higher political office.

The strengths by far are the acting roles of Brolin as Bush and Dreyfuss as Cheney. Nearly everyone else seems to be playing a caricature rather then a character (Yep Thandie Newton I am looking at you).

All in all a missed chance.