Review of W. (2008) by Dread I — 29 Jun 2009

I am no fan of George W. Bush, not his policies, his condescending attitude, not his C- sense of history or his C+ sense of humor.

That said, I was greatly disappointed by W. The problem lies mostly with a lack of depth. W. plays like a haphazard production thrown together so it could be rushed out in time to influence last year's election. The movie makes a caricature not only of George W. Bush but also of just about everybody else--of history itself in fact.

Granted, making a caricature of GWB is easily done. But in a serious biopic--as this film purports to be--I expect a little more depth (yes, I would expect even a figure like GWB to have a bit more complexity). In fact, with GWB perhaps the hardest task would be NOT portraying him as a caricature. In that regard W. fails miserably. The film offers no new insight on anything--not history, no GWB. Everything here plays as if borrowed from other places--from other anti-GWB articles, books and sources. The whole production feels like a retread.

Josh Brolin--who I've become a fan of in the last couple of years--gives a good performance as George W. Bush, but again, it feels more akin to something I might see from Will Ferrell than from Robert De Niro. The film is mildly entertaining but it is, by no means, objective or balanced. In that way, it mostly preaches to the choir and though, personally, I'm glad to sing along, I have to believe that in the years to come someone will do a biopic that relies less on stereotype and hearsay and more on balanced historical accuracy.