Rating: 
Director: Mike Nichols
Starring: Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julia Roberts
Mike Nichols’ new film is a damn fine piece of Hollywood cinema. I know people who, while they will enjoy some L.A. entertainment, tend to view anything coming out of the American studio system to be lesser product—craft, rather than the significant art that comes out of Europe and tours really, really tiny theaters, unnoticed. Given the sheer volume of material that comes out of Hollywood, and the fact that only the better foreign and independent releases tend to get into theaters at all, that’s really not a bad formula for figuring how to spend your moviegoing dollar. But a film like this, with a cast like this, reminds you that you can have a Hollywood-style film, with straightforward storytelling and big-named stars, that entertains, informs and matters.
The most noticeable triumph of Charlie Wilson’s War is the casting. Tom Hanks is the titular 80s congressman, a liberal who, while drinking and partying hard, funds a covert war against the Soviets in Afghanistan because it’s the right thing to do. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the jaded, gristly CIA agent who can’t believe anything useful can come out of the U.S. Congress, and Julia Roberts is a filthy-rich Texan, a right-wing religious kook who really, really doesn’t like godless commies. 
Hanks is the perfect embodiment of gladhanding middle-aged charm with a hard moral center, Hoffman is intense and gruff and nails the deadpan humor of his character, and if you need scenery glamorously chewed, Julia Roberts will unhinge her jaw and eat the entire set for you. Oh, bonus: the excellent Ned Beatty in a significant supporting role.
Next it’s Nichols‘ direction of Aaron Sorkin’s machine-gun screenplay. He takes the film in hand and moves it along, telling it with great economy. The story seems to sprawl luxuriously before us, but there’s really not a wasted moment, and years of storytime slip by in its 97-minute runtime—which is really short for this sort of Important Hollywood Drama. Nichols’ roots in comedy, his intelligence and flawless timing serve him well, and there are enough laughs and light moments that one almost forgets how Important and Dramatic the movie is.
But no mistake—it’s a great and compelling (based-on-a-true) story. It is a perfect story for our times, as well, detailing how America fails in these situations, how we were doing nothing as the Soviet army brutally destroyed Afghanistan and destabilized the entire Middle East. Hanks’ maverick approach identifies the obstacles and, using money and political favors, knocks them down in sequence. Hanks embodies what is best about America: Compassion, determination, an unwavering sense of justice despite a healthy disrespect for convention. Whereas America, in the film, embodies what is worst about America: Slow-moving, indolent, politically short-sighted, besotted with celebrity and scandal rather than anything important. 
In the end, though Hanks wins his battle, we see that American Failure will win the day, as the congressman’s inability to get American involved in Afghanistan’s reconstruction points to the Taliban-corrupted jihadist wonderland that nation became, leading to the war we’re still fighting there.
The film has the mildest of flaws. It starts with Hanks about to receive an award for winning his covert war, and as everyone looks at him with admiration, and he furrows his brow in reflection, the ninety-minute flashback ensues, returning us to the same moment with a new understanding of Hanks’ mixed mood. If there’s a more overused plot trope than this, I don’t wanna know about it. But the bookends work well themselves, and Nichols’ genius in ending the film—though the Afghanistan story never really ends—as soon as the covert war part ends, rather than lingering through a dozen ponderous endings, more than makes up for the overly convenient framing device.
