W. (15)

4:20pm Thursday 6th November 2008

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Stars: Josh Brolin, James Cromwell, Ellen Burstyn, Elizabeth Banks, Toby Jones, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Scott Glenn, Ioan Gruffud, Richard Dreyfuss
Running time: 129 mins
Rating: ★★★

DIRECTOR Oliver Stone completes his hat-trick of American Presidential movies by following films about JFK and Nixon with a look at the life and times of outgoing White House resident George W Bush.

Given Stone’s reputation for political outspokenness, you might be expecting a tough and no-words-minced appraisal of Dub-ya’s time as the 43rd President of the United States.

What you get is a fairly innocuous, boring even, film that touches on all the things but beats around the Bush without ever getting to the heart of the man.

It’s as if Stone realised that no matter how critical or satirical he was about Bush, the real thing was already a joke that couldn’t be bettered.

What he concentrates on is the friction between George Snr (James Cromwell) and his baseball fan son. George Jr (Josh Brolin) was the black sheep of the family who failed to emerge from his father’s shadow until he swapped alcohol for God.

Many of the key moments in Bush Jr’s life are dutifully replayed, although, surprisingly, we get the pretzel choking incident but not the 9/11 one. At times, its lack of dramatic teeth sees W. veer dangerously close to TV bio-pic territory.

This isn’t the fault of Josh Brolin, not an obvious choice perhaps, but whose portrayal of Dub-ya from college to war warrior captures the spirit of the man without resorting to being a mere lookalike.

James Cromwell’s demanding Bush Snr isn’t slow in showing his disappointment of his son’s early life, while Elizabeth Banks’ Laura watches from the sidelines as her husband comes to power.

Others are less successful.

Thandie Newton’s Condoleezza Rice moves more like a Thunderbirds puppet than a real person and Ioan Gruffud’s awful Tony Blair is thankfully only alloted one scene.

Richard Dreyfuss, on the other hand, gives a chilling portrayal as Dick Cheney.