When I was a senior in high school, way back in the fall of 1988, my AP lit teacher was complaining about a school play he'd agreed to act in. It seems that a group of industrious students had decided to adapt John Hughes' film The Breakfast Club for the high school stage. The Breakfast Club was released in 1985, and whether or not you're a fan of that film, you could probably remember it well enough three years later that you wouldn't need to see your classmates recreate it on the high school stage. I'm not trying to say that John Hughes movies have anywhere near the significance of government affairs or world events, but after watching Oliver Stone's "W", I think I can imagine what those in the audience of South Eugene High's "Breakfast Club" production must have felt.
There's something inherently strange about seeing well known actors portraying government officials who are STILL RUNNING THE GOVERNMENT. The A-list cast do the best they can, but none of them are really able to break free of the disconnect that this movie creates for the viewer. Josh Brolin does a great job of mimicking Bush's voice and Texas bravado, but he doesn't really look like Bush, and the casting of Thandie Newton and Scott Glenn as Condoleeza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld is even worse. Putting the casting aside for a moment, though, what was really the point in making this film and then rushing it out before the election? A lot of the dialogue was taken from transcripts of actual events, but in our current 24 hour news cycle world, was anyone really dying to see these events recreated by Hollywood actors? The Bush administration is portrayed as a bunch of arrogant politicians who abused their power to take us to war in Iraq. This may be news to some, but I think most of us have heard it already. Stone doesn't perform a hatchet job on Bush exactly, but he doesn't have to. No one who has a low opinion of Bush is going to change their mind after seeing this movie, and the film doesn't cut deep enough to sway any Bush supporters. Instead, it's content to hold a mirror up to recent events, occasionally pausing to portray W. as a ne'er do well child of privilege with Daddy issues. Again, tell us something we don't know. If Oliver Stone thinks that this movie is going to have any impact whatsoever on the way people vote on November 4th, he's got a bigger ego than Bush and Cheney combined.
1 comment:
Stone's ego is bigger than Alaska and his films have been sucking for years. It's too bad.
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