W.
Tags: revenge, comedy, satire, historical, flashback

Plot synopsis:
In center field of Rangers Ballpark, we see George W. Bush (Josh Brolin) standing with a glove on his hand. He turns around and listens to the cheers greeting him as an unseen announcer introduces him to invisible crowds as the 43rd president of the United States of America.We then cut to a cabinet meeting in early 2002, where W is in a deep discussion about how soon they should respond to the recent terrorist attacks on their country by attacking the Axis of either evil or terror (they can't decide which it should be), although Colin Powell (Jeffrey Wright) is reluctant to go to war with either Iraq or Iran, given that it was a non-affiliated terrorist named Osama Bin Laden who was behind it, although both VP Dick Cheney (Richard Dreyfuss) and Condi Rice (Thandie Newton) are quick to remind him that both are terrorist holders. George Tenet (Bruce McGill) supports Colin in his way of thinking as Karl Rove (Toby Jones) and Donald Rumsfeld (Scott Glenn) laugh behind their hands at him. Eventually Axis of Terror is decided on and the war gets greenlit. Before the meeting is adjourned, W gets everyone together and has them bow their heads in prayer, although more than a few of them clearly don't have their heart in it.Thirty-six years earlier, in 1966, we see a much younger W at Yale during pledge week. W and the other fraternity pledges are being endured an alcohol-fuelled hazing the basement of their frat house. One of his fellow pledges is challenged to name as many brothers as he is able to, and he manages to get seven. Another brother challenges someone to beat that, and W steps forward and successfully names all of the frat brothers, stopping only when the lead brother tells him to and getting great cheers for being true Delta Kappa Epsilon material. W tells them that he is pledging the fraternity as a legacy to his father whom was also a plege there, but he states that he has no intrest in persuing his family's business legacy.We then cut to a jail several months later where W is calling his father, George H.W. Bush (James Cromwell) at home, explaining that there was a "misunderstanding" after a football game in Baltimore that has led to his arrest with several of his frat brothers during a victory party which turned into a riot. George bails his son out and tells him that this is the last time he helps his son out.A few years later, following graduation from Yale, we see Bush working on one of his family oil rigs back in Texas. He takes a break for water and when the foreman yells at him to get back to work, he quits instead. Later on, we see him in a bar with his girlfriend Susie (Marley Shelton) and he gives her a somewhat long-winded proposal and gets up on the bar to dance with her.A few years later, though, he is once again coming before his father. This time, W. is asking George to bail him out of the marriage-that-never-got-official. George agrees to it, but then expresses his disappointment with W., especially regarding the fact that he only got Cs at Yale and can't seem to hold a job for more than six months. For his part, W. ignores the criticism and just walks out. (It is implied, but never fully revealed, that George W. Bush is dislexic which would explain his poor grades, with that combined with his growing alcoholism brought during his fraternity hazing at Yale).Present Day, 2002. Cheney and W are sitting down to lunch in the oval office. After a little preamble regarding the upcoming war, Cheney takes out a small folder. He explains that inside are some ideas regarding possible interrogation techniques that could be instituted at places such as Guantanamo. W. balks at first, worried that there would be stuff like pulling out toenails, but Cheney assures him that it would be nothing lethal, using examples such as sleep deprivation and water torture to make his point. W is reassured and promises to look at the three-page report. As lunch ends, W then asks Cheney to kindly keep his ego in check, since he's only the vice-president, and an insulted-looking Cheney nods and walks out. A few days later, at the Bush ranch, W. is having a walk and talk with some members of his cabinet (Rummy, Dick, Condi, a couple others) and General Thomas Franks (Michael Gaston) regarding a start date for the war, which Franks suggests as April/May/June of 2003. Some time later, we see W. watching a college football game and eating pretzels with his dog when he suddenly begins choking. He staggers around the office and comes behind a recliner. He starts pounding himself on the chest with it and is eventually successful in dislodging the pretzel from his throat just as he collapses to the floor, unconscious.In 1972, we see W. and his younger brother Jeb (Jason Ritter) driving up to the Bush home in the middle of the night and both of them "drunk as a skunk". They stagger into the house where George and Barbara (Ellen Burstyn) start yelling at W. about coming home so drunk in the middle of the night. W. starts posturing as though he wants to fight George when Jeb intervenes saying that George was out celebrating his acceptance into Harvard Business School. This changes the attitude of Barb and George, but W. then admits he's not going -- he just wanted to see if he could get in. This admission prompts George to admit that he only got in because George had pulled some strings with the admissions board.Five years later. George W. Bush is playing poker with some friends at Harvard and announcing to them that he plans to run for Congress. At a celebratory barbeque cookout, he meets a beautiful young woman named Laura Welch (Elizabeth Banks). Over drinks and cigarettes, Laura reminds him that they went to junior high together and the two slowly warm to each other, with her telling him that she's a teacher and always tries to see all sides of an argument, making W. want to appoint her his education adviser.Some time later, we see him in a debate against Kent Vance (Paul Rae), whose strategy seems to be pointing out that Bush is not a real Texan, having been born in Connecticut (HEY! *seethes*) and gone to college in Connecticut. Despite W.'s assertions to a softly understanding Laura that this is nothing but tarring and feathering, he still manages to lose the election, albeit by a mere 6,000 votes.Back in 2002, we see Bush standing in the field again, listening to the cheers. Back in reality, we see another cabinet meeting where he and his advisors are discussing the need for a regime change in Iraq.In 1986, W. and Laura are at a 40th birthday party for W where the junior Bush is drinking up a storm with bottle after bottle of wine and hard liquor. During the party, he gets a call from his father George, who wants W. to help with his campaigning for president, which causes W. to announce that he and Laura are moving to Washington when he returns to the restaurant table. Not long after, W. is heading out for a morning run. At one point, he stops due to chest pains and collapses on the side of the road with a heart murmur.Three months later, we see him in an alcoholics anonymous meeting being headed by Rev. Earle Hudd (Stacy Keach Jr). After the meeting has been ended, W. hangs around and prays with Hudd, saying that most of the time he feels this great weight on his shoulders.In 1988, at the convention HQ, George is having a meeting with his advisers, which includes Karl Rove, when W. enters. The meeting is ended and W. shows his father a videotape by the Bush camp smearing Dukakis, citing his decision to give weekend visits to convicted criminals (Willie Horton). This is enough to dissuade voters, who make George Bush Sr. the 41st President of the United States. Despite the celebration, though, W. himself isn't pleased. Late that night, he confesses to Laura that he almost wanted his father to lose the election, since he constantly feels as though he's living in George's shadow and has to live up to him.In 2002, Bush and co. are in a war room, and the current topic of discussion is the location of any possible Weapons of Mass Destruction. Rumsfeld makes the argument that they are most likely in either Tikrit or Baghdad. Cheney agrees and points out that if they don't act they will lose the advantage they have now, although, as Powell points out, they have no exit strategy and no real American presence. However, after a video call to General Franks, they get confirmation that they expect to have over three hundred thousand troops in Iraq, and that that should speed things up nicely.In 1990, W. is having a conversation with his father over whether or not having faith in God would be of help to him in winning the war in the Persian Gulf. One year later, we see George in the war room with his cabinet celebrating their imminent victory in the Gulf. When asked by Powell if he feels they should have pushed, George decisively says that they went far enough and now need to concentrate on winning the next election. Unfortunately, winning the war wasn't enough and the presidency is given over to Bill Clinton during the results of the 1992 presidential elections. George is devastated and W. is angry that Clinton was elected despite his past and of his reputation of being a womanizer.Another year or so later, Bush Jr. decides to run for Governor of Texas, despite his parents George Sr. and Barbara begging him to wait, since Jeb is running for Governor of Florida and they can't be in both states at once, but he refuses to listen. Later on, we see W out campaigning for governorship with Rove's advice, which in brief is to get across that he is who he is and no other Bush (at one point in here, we see him asking the famous, "Is our children learning?" question). Regardless, he gets elected governor and as a congratulations prize is given a pair of cufflinks by George and a note saying how proud he is. However, this is not enough for W., who is instead offended that George still can't tell him he's proud face-to-face.Five years later in 1999, we see W. in his office when he gets a visit from Earle Hudd. He tells Hudd that he feels he has gotten the call, and then explains that he is talking about the call to be president. Hudd is ecstatic for him, and W. says that he thinks that there will be a bad time for the country, and that God wants him as president in order to help the American people through it. Hudd nods in complete belief, and the two get down on their knees to pray for W.'s delivery to the office of the president.Four years later, in 2003, we see W. giving the state of the union as those who wrote it congratulate each other at various points. Back in the cabinet, W. is determined not to jeopardize their chances in Iraq, despite the massive amounts of protest the war is getting. In a meeting with the British prime minister Tony Blair (Ioan Gruffudd), W. tries to barter for some help from Britain, although Tony is reluctant to commit his own country's troops. Regardless, W. is determined to win in Iraq, even as his parents grow more and more worried about how things are going for him.A few months later though, things turn dark for Bush and the rest of his cabinet when they find out that Saddam had lied about having Weapons of Mass Destruction, which makes them all look bad. In truth, the caves that were to have the WMDs were lines of cattle showing up on their scans, an error which forces David Kay to resign from his office. Regardless, W. still holds steady, staying committed and visiting wounded soldiers in hospitals. One young Mexican soldier says that he's sorry he can't fight for him, and W. tells him to not worry, that now they're all fighting for him.One night, he and Laura are heading to sleep, and W. reflects on what he has done and realizes that the only thing he can still do is fight to keep his place. Later, we see him enter the oval office when he finds George Sr. there waiting for him. George says that he's really in deep, even after he pulled W's ass out of that jam in Florida, and he starts posturing as though wanting to fight W (note -- in this scene more than any other, Brolin is the spitting image of W.). W. starts yelling at George to go away and leave him alone when he suddenly wakes up screaming, realizing that it was just a nightmare.Some time later, we see W. at a press conference where he is continuing to hold support for the war, but the looks on the reporters faces indicate that they're not buying it anymore. One reporter asks what W. feels his place in history will be, and W. says, "In history? Well, in history we'll all be dead." Another reporter asks W. if he feels he may have made any mistakes in his presidency, and W. stammers that he's been kind of caught off-guard here. Eventually, the press-conference ends and W. storms off into the residential area of the white house, going to his bedroom. When he opens the door, W. is standing in the middle of Ranger's stadium on a cool autumn night. The invisible crowd is cheering, and the ball is hit towards W. He raises his hand to catch it, and....George W. Bush looks around. The whole stadium is silent. There are no players, no announcers, no crowds, and no baseball. He searches the empty field around him, and he sees that the ball is nowhere nearby. Slightly panicked, W. looks around the field some more, trying to find the ball he lost so he can keep on playing....

Review: 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.
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.
Although, some critics apparently wanted the average TV-Movie-muck type of performance where the actress finds the "lighter side" of the real life person, Newton and Stone smartly resist that trite nonsense.Newton transcends her own glamorous persona and gives a hard-as-nails imitation of Rice as a person that is smart enough to understand and follow those that actually have the power in the Bush White House as she helps them manipulate Bush to acquiesce to their desires.Newton's performance successfully evokes images of the Rice that recently went to Russia and had the nerve to coolly and robotically lecture Putin on why it's OK for the U.S. to travel half the globe to punish those who kill Americans, but it's not OK for Russia to go over its border to punish those that kill Russian citizens.It's one of the gutsier performances all year by anyone, male or female, and it really helps make the movie great.As I stated at the beginning W.
'W.', Oliver Stone's latest true story film, is a simple biopic of America's 43rd President George W.
Examples of said material would be the controversial speculation around the legitimacy of his position as president, the even more questionable aspects of Bush's behaviour around the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the film even makes absolutely no mention of Hurricane Katrina.The performances in this film are the only real things it has to brag about as Josh Brolin carries the film quite nicely with his charming and quirky take on Bush, along with Richard Dreyfuss' Dick Cheney, Thandie Newton's Condoleezza Rice, and others.
Another problem with the film's performances is James Cromwell's portrayal of George Bush Sr., as he is shown as a sweet, hard working old man, with no similarities shown in the real George Bush Sr.'s speech or mannerisms, which, I guess, was necessary to make the character likable.Overall, 'W.' is reasonably entertaining with its imitations of the American president and the people surrounding him in his career, however the viewers shouldn't delude themselves into thinking it as a reliable source of historical or political information as it covers any subject it has chosen to include, very lightly giving very little for it to say, despite the fact that there would be many things for this film to include, considering its protagonist's history.
The only real conceivable, politically taut, reason for why this film was even released before the end of Bush's time as president is that, to avoid anyone else making a biopic of Bush, in case they might have had the kind of daft, one sided sense to portray George W.
W. remains a naive character in his conviction that he's the one leading the show as his good-Christian facade was the perfect foil to more malevolent intents, magnificently conveyed by Richard Dreyfus' portrayal of Dick Cheney.A lot can be said about the performances, Toby Jones as Karl Rove, Thandie Newton as Condoleeza Rice or Scott Glenn as Rumsfeld, they are all good, and maybe Brolin was in a too-crowded a year to get an Oscar-nomination, but boy, was Dreyfus as Cheney chilling, when he delivers his speech about the necessity to attack Iraq, he's as cold and magnetic as Hannibal Lecter, and the scene is even scarier now that the harm is done.
Josh Brolin's performance in this movie is one of the best things about this movie and he should deserve an Oscar nod as he should have gotten for his outstanding performance in the Coen Brother's masterpiece No Country For Old Men. This movie could have been better had Stone waited for the real Bush to complete his presidency and then painted a complete portrait of his Presidency instead of just the first 3 years and if he had changed some of the cast around.
The film is actually well made, Josh Brolin does a decent job of portraying our constant dumbfounded president, the story is pretty sad when you think about all the pressures he must face on a daily basis.Based on George W.
We also go into his world of having to pull himself out of his rut with his family who constantly puts him down with a country who is not exactly proud of him as well.W. is a good film, it's well acted and put together, however, my main complaint, but I think there is a reason why, is that Oliver completely skips the election controversy we faced in 2000 as well as 9/11 which I thought was an important subject to touch.
After watching Stone's latest biopic, I feel like I have lived through George Bush's life.
The tone of the film is nearly non existent, leaving its admirable cast of actors on shaky ground without a leg to stand on.Stone juxtaposes the rise of "Dubya" (played by Josh Brolin) with his decision to begin the current Iraq War. In displaying Bush's journey from frat boy to drunk to born again AA member to leader of the free world, Stone has enough material to create a wicked absurdist satire, or compelling political theater.
However, Stone seems hell-bent on making a film that remains neutral toward the forty- third President, giving him the ability to say things like, "It will contain surprises for Bush supporters and his detractors."# Well, yes, I was surprised indeed.
Instead of tearing W a new one, this film applied some Desitin, patted him on the back and said "there, there." I can't help but think that this, along with World Trade Center, represents a kinder, gentler, and newly boring Oliver Stone, focusing on inoffensive dramaturgy and lookalike casting (except Cromwell as Poppy Bush).
It seems he now wants to be a Serious Prestige Director Who Gets An Oscar, rather than the passionate, irreverent wiseguy he was when he made his great films.So now Stone turns out a movie that will encourage any remorseful Bush voter to think, "Well, of course I was right to have supported him...he meant well." Give me a break.With the most stupidly corrupt leader in American history as his subject, a rage-filled, sadistic yet passive-aggressive antihero worthy of a blistering satire...Stone instead delivers a wet little Hallmark drama about how a cold daddy produced an unloved, frustrated child.
From watching the dewy-eyed, sensible, liberal, good-hearted gal called Laura Bush here, you'd never dream the genuine article actually told survivors of dead soldiers that "no one suffers more than the president and I" or that she once killed a boyfriend by running a stop sign.Oliver Stone - who once made a mainstream movie that accused the CIA of murdering JFK - wants us to believe Bush (who's been repeatedly photographed with wine-colored fluid in his glasses at state dinners and has fallen off bikes, Segways and his own two feet too often to count) passed out on a pretzel...with nothing but O'Doul's at hand?
However, as a docu-drama this movie comes up way short, and as a docu-comedy it's not funny.Several of the actors are known to have quite anti-Bush sentiments and you could almost see their glee in being able to add their personal negative spin into this movie.This unfortunately is not acting, and most likely why the movie did not live up to the expectations at the box office.Not worth the watch..
This is probably the most pathetic version of the Bush legacy I have ever seen..It saddens me that a great director like Oliver Stone has sunk to the level of Michael Moore and made such a crap movie solely to get his own political agenda out!!
As far as the acting while I thought all performances were not even close to the reality, I think Newtons portrayal of Condi Rice should offend anyone Left or Right...Stone took one the most powerful,intelligent, and articulate women of are day and made her into nothing short of a clown character and yes women to Bush.
From my experience with other Oliver Stone movies, I was expecting to see a definitive film about George Bush, filled with facts.
Bush it was not an accurate account and didn't reveal anything that you wouldn't find out in a parody or roast of someone rather than a serious investigation of someone's life.Of course in an election year, just days before the final contest between Republican and Democrat, many will read into this movie what they believe to be the truth based on their political affiliation, and many will believe that this is an accurate portrayal of the President just like many believed the premise in JFK that there was a conspiracy to kill Kennedy, and there was more than one shooter.It's really hard to get a handle on exactly what this film really is.
There is enough scenes in this movie that call in question both Democrat and Republican missteps, and maybe Oliver is telling us to dig a little deeper, reason a little harder concerning our political choices and alliances regardless of our political party affiliation, instead of just a Democratic bashing of the Republican President.I cannot say the film isn't entertaining, but at the expense of the dignity of person it is about.
Stone indulges from time to time in the kind of stylistic choices that veer close to being a TV movie- nowhere near as much or as sappy as the Hallmark-channel spread World Trade Center, but with a couple of obvious music choices- and the criticism put on the movie that there's nothing really new that those reasonably informed about Bush's past and his first term is not completely unwarranted.But, again, there is the expectation going in that this will be the be-all-end-all of lambasting, or on the flip-side that it's too soon an analysis of a man still (not too arguably) crippling the country away in his last months in office.
What Stone has done, occasionally brilliantly, is compile a Greatest-Hits of Bush trivia and scenes that are either spot-on to how they likely played out or are based very accurately on what is at the date known about what happened behind closed doors with Bush and Cheney and Rove and company.On top of this is a story of, in a famous-movie comparison, what would happen if Fredo Corleone got the chance to be a mob boss while his disapproving father was still alive and smarter brother got more respect (it's not beyond comprehension to hear the echo of "I can run things, I'm smart!" from Godfather 2 in certain scenes with George and his father).
Bush that he makes him, if not entirely sympathetic, understandable and human and not some complete villain.There's also a gallery of who's-who in the acting pool: James Cromwell, Richard Dreyfuss (exceptional), Jeffrey Wright, Ellen Burstyn, Thandie Newton, Toby Young, even Rob Corddry from the Daily Show, all of them are spectacular in their parts, adding interest to scenes that require presence, strength, and from time to time nuance and care in finding that line between playing a character and parody (which, actually, Newton verges into a few times).It's also been said that W.
His contempt for Bush oozes thru every scene and it gets predictable and monotonous.Like the Alexander in an earlier Stone movie, the character portrayal of Bush is shallow and inaccurate (although I have never met Bush, he didn't become President being the moron as portrayed by Stone) -- it is just not plausible that he beat Ann Richards for Governor and two of the best the Democratic Party had to offer by schlepping his way through life.
Every character was such an over-the-top portrayal of the real person that I thought the movie would surely evolve into a comedic spoof..but it never did.It was a 2 1/2 hour joke that never had a punch line.I'd compare it to watching an old episode of "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" set in the White House against the backdrop of the run up to the attack on Iraq.I believe George Bush is probably the worst thing that has ever happened to this country but this movie doesn't do justice to his failed legacies.
I have just viewed this film on video two months into the Obama Presidency with Dick Cheney still out there warning of another terror attack if his fascist measures are undone.Josh Brolin does an excellent job as W who is a person way over his capacity, sometimes unable to answer questions by reporters, gut feeling decider, and someone who is easily manipulated by Dick Cheney.The mystery of what Laura ever saw in George is somewhat answered.
Oliver Stone should hit the road to history because I think he have nothing more to say since long time ago and making comfortable films don't bring any good to him.
Regardless of what I think has/has not happened to this country in the last 8 years, I'm confining what I'm about to say to the movie specifically.Stone's film isn't art, it's a failed attempt at character analysis.
As for me, it was a total wastage of time and money and I had a feeling of reprieve when it thankfully came to an almost abrupt end.Although the movie attempts to create the impression that Bush was merely a simpleton who was misled into the Iraq war after 9/11 by the evil Cheney-Rumsfeld-Tenet gang, it is in stark contradiction to the real events as evidenced from the following quote from someone in the know:Those present who had attended the NSC meetings of the previous administration - and there were several - noticed a material shift.
After JFK, which came very close to bringing out some of the most important details surrounding the conspiracy which brought about the assassination of this countries last great president (a conspiracy which when truly researched places George Herbert Walker Bush firmly in the midst of the whole diabolical plot), I thought surely Oliver Stone would at least drop a few bread crumbs on the ground in his latest cinematic foray to allude to the dark underpinnings of the fascist Neocon agenda which propelled this once proud country down the path of torture and warmongering that has led it to the now nearly irredeemable reputation it has smearing its great history of liberty and forthrightness.
Even if you think George W Bush is the worst President in the last 100 years, you still left the movie still having no idea how a guy went from failed alcoholic to the highest position in the World.
Between the overly nasally voice of whoever I had to endure as Condi Rice, the myriad incidences of butchering Brolin, as Bush, unleashes on the English language, and the obviously satirical soundtrack that permeates the film, this piece is a second-rate political cartoon that pats itself on the back the whole way through.This movie condenses all the leftist stereotypes of the characters involved and injects them into situations where subjectivity and speculation can reign free for those reenacting (think "in a dimly lit room in some secret bunker 30 stories below the surface of the earth...").
Stone might not have had a lot of money but he certainly spent it well to judge from things like Bush ranch in Crawford or even the White House sets which could arguably compare with those on The West Wing.And now we come to the controversial part of the film: its portrayal of George W.
I liked how they showed real people (John McCain, Hillary Clinton, etc) in the movie and the man who played Dick Cheney did a very good job too, as well as the man who played George HW Bush.
so disappointed that his crew had given him wrong informations about the existence of nuclear weapons in the middle east.The film doesn't show any credible truth about the 8 years George W.Bush was president and is the most stupid propaganda movie ever.Because the actors played well, I give 3 points for them and if I could I would give a -10 for this waste of celluloid..
Oliver Stone's film about the life of George W Bush seems to be a simple look at the life of W from his college days to the invasion of Iraq and how it all went wrong despite the best efforts of our central character.
I watched this movie with the full impression of it being a complete Bush-bashing film based on Stone's past vocalizations about his political opinions.