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Not something that HAS to be seen on the big screen, but this isn't the Hollywood piece of shit it looks like on the preview.

Headed by a remarkable Tom Hanks, right at home in the role of Congressman Charlie Wilson of Texas, and Phillip Seymour Moffman as a government spy bent on not playing the government's game, "Charlie Wilson's War" is about the man who got the US involved in the Afghan-Russian conflict back when the Russians were seen more as the bad guys (yeah, the Cold War thing).

Julia Roberts plays the "6th richest woman in Texas" who got Charlie off his ass as well (while giving him a piece of her own once in a while), as he was a ladies' man and a boozer who spent more time enjoying the perks of his congressional status than being much of a public servant. Wilson is an interesting character, a guy who fills his office with the booze and hot babes he relishes in, as his motto is "you can teach 'em to type, but you can't make 'em grow tits," as is Hoffman's spy, but Roberts is stuck with the kind of sassy supporting female who seems to be giving a quirky line just for the sake of an Oscar clip half the time. That, the fact that Roberts' Texas accent sounds more Georgian, the fact that her accent disappears altogether a tad often, and the fact that her bikini shot draws more attention to itself as a celeb-mag "Look Who's Doing a Bikini Scene!" photo than a part of a scene make for an all-around dull presence.

The good news there is that her character isn't half as prominent as Hoffman's or even Amy Adams' assistant to Wilson, and not even a quarter as prominent as Hanks' lovable Wilson. While the theme of not only standing for something but following through until it's finished is well-presented throughout the flick, it's a shame that there's not even a slight shred of irony about how this flick is basically supporting the argument that the US should stay in Iraq until everything is just perfect. It's a shame that, while Charlie Wilson's war was ultimately lost in the grand scheme of things, the US' involvement in places like Afghanistan (during their struggle with the Russians) isn't recognized more as the only thing anyone did to help, even if it didn't pan out the way it would in a world where everybody would just get alng to begin with anyway. All the same, it's a perfectly watchable movie.

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