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W. (2008/I)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
17 October 2008 (USA) moreTagline:
Get Ready moreAwards:
4 nominations moreNewsDesk:
(50 articles)
Sellers Tops Presidential List (From WENN. 19 January 2009, 11:09 PM, PST)
Brolin And Wright Escape Bar Brawl Charges
(From WENN. 6 January 2009, 11:00 AM, PST)
User Comments:
Waiting for the final ball to drop... more (258 total)Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Josh Brolin | ... | George W. Bush | |
| Colin Hanks | ... | Speechwriter #1 | |
| Toby Jones | ... | Karl Rove | |
| Dennis Boutsikaris | ... | Paul Wolfowitz | |
| Jeffrey Wright | ... | Colin Powell | |
| Thandie Newton | ... | Condoleezza Rice | |
| Scott Glenn | ... | Donald Rumsfeld | |
| Richard Dreyfuss | ... | Dick Cheney | |
| Bruce McGill | ... | George Tenet | |
| Wes Chatham | ... | Fraternity Enforcer | |
| Jesse Bradford | ... | Fraternity President | |
| Sean Stone | ... | Fraternity Pledge #1 | |
| Ben Mayer | ... | Fraternity Pledge #2 | |
| James Cromwell | ... | George H.W. Bush | |
| Juan Gabriel Pareja | ... | Oil Worker |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Bush (USA) (working title)Oliver Stone's W. (Germany) (TV title)
W. - Ein missverstandenes Leben (Germany) (DVD title)
more
MPAA:
Rated PG-13 for language including sexual references, some alcohol abuse, smoking and brief disturbing war images.Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
129 minColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 moreCertification:
USA:PG-13 (certificate #44818) | UK:15 | Canada:G (Québec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Portugal:M/12 | Ireland:PG | Finland:K-7 | Australia:M | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Argentina:13 | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | Germany:12 | Brazil:14 | Hong Kong:IIA | Singapore:NC-16 | Mexico:BFun Stuff
Trivia:
When reciting the names of the fraternity brothers during his hazing, The second and third surnames of people he names are "Hill" and "Hotchkiss." Both Oliver Stone and James Cromwell attended the Hill School, whose principal rival was Hotchkiss School. moreGoofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Someone mentions that Laura Bush voted for LBJ. He ran for president in 1964, when Laura was 18. The voting age was 21 until 1972, so Laura could not have voted before 1968. moreSoundtrack:
Chattahoochee moreFAQ
Who or what is "W"?Besides George W., who else from his life features in this movie?
How much sex, violence, and profanity are in this movie?
more
more (258 total)
Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for W. (2008/I)| Recent Posts (updated daily) | User |
|---|---|
| W versus Nixon | Lilith-Luna |
| Thandie Newton was awful. | nmescher |
| The Cross at the end of the credits. | warwickc-1 |
| The 'Robin Hood' theme | tmaj48 |
| WMDs!!!!! | richsass |
| Satire??? | pinkfloyd70 |
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With his "in the moment" biopic "W." the normally volatile Oliver Stone wisely saves his judgments for history when hindsight will be 20/20. Achingly subdued and slightly satirical, Stone plays it straight and to the bone. Here he presents us with the early years of our current lame duck president, showing Dubya rushing a frat-house at Yale, meeting Laura at a barbecue, living in the shadow of his father and brother, his troubles holding down a job, his failed bid to become baseball commissioner, and his defining moment when he gives up drinking and becomes born-again. All of which leads us to his first term and the Iraq War quagmire, where Dubya honest-to-goodness truly believes "God" wanted him to become president and that Iraq did have those rascally WMD.
In the lead role, Josh Brolin is an endearingly bumble-headed Dubya, and Stone presents him as a simple-minded man with good intentions who has been crippled by his "daddy issues" and has surrounded himself with the most cynical, self-serving, and corrupt administration in modern American history. The supporting cast is a hoot, with highlights including Thandie Newton eliciting big laughs just with her facial expressions as a wicked and moronically faithful Condi Rice, Elizabeth Banks giving a winning portrayal of Laura Bush, and Richard Dreyfuss playing Cheney as the most insipid megalomaniac American politics has ever seen.
Stone accomplishes three major coups here that should surprise those who expected a one-sided liberal smear job. First, he humanizes George W. Bush. The director does this with savvy editing showing the back-story of why Dubya does the things he does (i.e. why he uses nicknames for everyone or why running three miles every day is so important to him), and then juxtaposing that with the inane decisions he has made as president. By utilizing actual transcripts from press conferences, news coverage, and meetings, Stone and scribe Stanley Weiser allow Bush and his administration to speak for themselves, and it's both comically cathartic and occasionally frightening to see it dramatized so well. Second, he redeems the presidency of George "Poppy" Bush (a somewhat miscast but still effective James Cromwell) by showing what a restrained and thoughtful Commander in Chief he was compared to his naive and too-eager-to-please son. Thirdly, he redeems the legacy of Colin Powell (a surprisingly good Jeffrey Wright), who is shown here as the only person in the administration with any hindsight or foresight, and the only sane voice who questioned the motives for entering Iraq, though he eventually caved in and played along. His "f-you" to Cheney towards the film's final act is priceless.
As the actual presidency still has a few months to go at the time of the film's release, Stone's biopic was never written a true ending, leaving us with a symbolic image of Dubya looking up to the sky in center field waiting to catch a ball that will never drop. It may be another twenty years before we can pass any accurate judgment on Dubya's legacy, and likewise, Stone's film will have to wait. It's going to be a long time before anyone catches all those balls George W. Bush's administration threw up in the air.