For better or for worse, Charlie Wilson's War plays pretty much exactly like one would expect a film written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by Mike Nichols would. It's talky, snarky, ever so slightly rigid, but far too much fun to let those qualities be to its detriment.
As Charlie Wilson, a boozing, womanizing Texas congressman, Tom Hanks brings his trademark charm to the proceedings, but thankfully leaves most of his sentimentality at home. After visiting Afghanistan as a favor to political lobbyist and sometime paramour Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), Wilson teams with Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman, in top form) a CIA agent ecstatic to finally drum up some support for the Afghani cause.
Sorkin is very much at home writing about what goes on backstage in American politics (and the film does tend to drown its audience in facts, figures, and jargon that it is presumptuous to assume we all understand with equal aplomb), but it is what Nichols and his cast bring to the screenplay that elevates Charlie Wilson's War to the level of great cinema. Sorkin's dialogue is always sharp, but tends to become cluttered; Nichols directs his actors to spit it out in quick, rapid fire bursts, creating a tone not unlike the screwball comedies of the 30s and 40s. Granted, the topics are a little headier, but even if some of the specifics of the governmental politics overshoot some viewers' heads, the film wisely focuses on the personal politics of those involved. (One can't help but be reminded of Nichols' similar approach to Primary Colors, his fictionalized account of the Clinton campaign.)
Though Tom Hanks may occasionally seem to be too much of the everyman to portray a character of Wilson's calibre, this actually works for the film. By playing it straight -- and subtle -- the eccentricities of Wilson's circumjacent compatriots become more pronounced without any needless histrionics from the ensemble. Julia Roberts is acceptable, but ignites little chemistry with Hanks. Amy Adams, on the other hand, begins to reestablish some of the credibility that she's lost due to basically every role she's taken since being nominated for Junebug. Ned Beatty's is a small role, but his performance is superb.
Nonetheless -- and unsurprisingly -- the film belongs to Philip Seymour Hoffman. Is there a better actor working today? Every part he has played has been infused with greatness, and this ranks among his best and funniest. The film's best lines go to him, not necessarily because it was written that way, but because Hoffman is an incredibly smart actor who can turn his most mundane lines into gold through impeccable timing and delivery. He brings out the best in his costars (Hanks' scenes with Hoffman are his best) and it would be an unforgivable oversight if the Academy doesn't nominate him for at least one of his several brilliant performances this year.
The film is not without its flaws -- some of the backstory could stand to be elaborated upon, and much of the third act feels somewhat abrupt -- but neither was Charlie Wilson. And just as the film instructs us to do for the man himself, I am willing to overlook the few things it does wrong in favor of the many things it does right.