Movie · 2007 · Comedy, Drama, History · 1h 42m · R · English
Curator score: 4.0/10 (193.9K ratings)
A stiff drink. A little mascara. A lot of nerve. Who said they couldn't bring down the Soviet empire.
Overview
A Texas congressman sets a series of events in motion when he conspires with a CIA operative to aid Afghan mujahideen rebels fighting the Soviets.
Ratings
Curator score: 4.0/10
IMDb: 7.0/10
Letterboxd: 3.23/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Metacritic: 67
TMDB: 6.5/10
Director
Mike Nichols
Production
Universal Pictures, Relativity Media, Participant, Playtone, MP Munich Pape Filmproductions
Cast
Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Om Puri, Shiri Appleby, Rachel Nichols, Wynn Everett, Jud Tylor, John Slattery, Erick Avari, Cyia Batten, Denis O'Hare, Ned Beatty, Ken Stott, Daniel Eric Gold, Harry S. Murphy, Enayat Delawary, Peter Gerety
Curator Review
Verdict
A slick, fast-talking political comedy-drama with real star power and a sharp supporting turn from Philip Seymour Hoffman, but it tends to flatten a complicated history into breezy, self-satisfied wit. Worth it if you want a polished, adult studio film about power, lobbying, and foreign policy; less so if you want nuance or moral bite.
Best for
fans of political satire and Washington backroom stories
viewers who enjoy Aaron Sorkin-style dialogue and ensemble banter
people interested in Cold War-era covert history
Philip Seymour Hoffman completists
Skip if
you want a rigorous or balanced account of the Afghan-Soviet war
you dislike smug, talky political filmmaking
you prefer films that fully confront the consequences of U.S. intervention
you need a strong emotional center over procedural cleverness
Overview
Mike Nichols stages this as a glossy, conversational political caper, and the movie mostly lives on momentum, charm, and the pleasure of watching powerful people trade lines in rooms. Tom Hanks is amiable enough as the title figure, but the film’s real voltage comes from Philip Seymour Hoffman, who gives the CIA material a hard, irritated edge that the script often lacks.
Worth noting
The problem is that the movie’s tone keeps undercutting its own subject. It wants to be a smart satire about American influence and unintended consequences, yet it often settles for breezy simplification, turning a messy geopolitical story into a series of witty set pieces and easy moral exits.
Bottom line
Still, as a piece of studio-era adult entertainment, it moves well and has enough intelligence in the margins to stay watchable. If you come for performance, pace, and the frisson of seeing policy made by flawed, vain, compromised people, it delivers more than its reputation suggests.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Josh Lewis (2★) · 450 likes
Simultaneously opts for the smuggest, most boring angle on this subject matter imaginable, and mistakes actors doing funny voices/playing dress-up as inherently satirical. Would be pretty much worthless if not for Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Sean Fennessey (3★) · 377 likes
I’ve always found Mike Nichols superlative at the morally ambivalent (THE GRADUATE; WORKING GIRL; HEARTBURN) and sort of weak on the morally bankrupt (WOLF; PRIMARY COLORS; this). Imagine what Lumet could have done with these serpents. PSH forever.
Jake Alda Coffey (3★) · 326 likes
Phillip Seymour Hoffman could just stand there with his hands on his hips looking frustrated for 2 hours and I’d give him an Oscar.
Dragonknight (2★) · 286 likes
This is one of the very few movies (and as far as I know the only movie) made about the Soviet Army’s invasion of Afghanistan, it spends almost its entirety telling the story of Congressman Wilson’s plans to help Mojahedin fight the Soviets, Wilson is a jovial man who is spending his private time with strippers, he has a sweet taste for pretty women and finds joy in drinking. Suddenly he gets interested in poor Afghan women and children and… more This is one of the very few movies (and as far as I know the only movie) made about the Soviet Army’s invasion of Afghanistan, it spends almost its entirety telling the story of Congressman Wilson’s plans to help Mojahedin fight the Soviets, Wilson is a jovial man who is spending his private time with strippers, he has a sweet taste for pretty women and finds joy in drinking. Suddenly he gets interested in poor Afghan women and children and… more
Will Sloan (0.5★) · 262 likes
This U.S. House Representative had to practically beg the CIA to spend money on anti-Communism.