Charlie Wilson's War (15) **** - Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Emily Blunt, Amy Adams and Ken Stott.
IT may be tosh, but Charlie Wilson's War is highly enjoyable tosh in this comedy-drama oddity based on the life and times of US Democrat Charlie Wilson.
In the days when what was to become al-Qaeda was on the same side as the US, Tom Hanks stars as the larger than life Texan Congressman who covertly funds the Afghan resistance after the invasion of the USSR in 1979.
In this film his outrage by the plight of refugees who are displaced by the brutal Soviets is only rivalled by his insatiable appetite for booze and women.
A debauched Wilson joins forces with his lover, the super-rich socialite Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts) and CIA agent Gust Avrakotos (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), to finance the Mujahideen in their war against Moscow.
It's a film that's good at tackling the absurdity of war and both Hanks and Roberts give fine performances.
But, somewhat not unsurprisingly, it is the inimitable Hoffman who steals the show as the uncouth but oh-so-shrewd spook.
The film veers from tragedy to comedy, uncomfortably so at times, but it's a fresh and interesting movie from veteran director Mike Nichols.
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