W. (Dub-Ya)

***1/2 Stars

Oliver Stone tackles George W. Bush.

Not much of a surprise.

Stone’s biopic of the 43^rd President is very well done, with an electric performance from Josh Brolin in the title role. It is however, much different than expected. Instead of purposely tackling the controversy on Bush’s tactics, it stays pretty close to an old-fashioned profile story, of how this man went from a booze-crazed Yale playboy to the most powerful man in the world. I found it refreshing that Stone has the ability to second-guess all those who have the man figured for a liberal who just loves to bash people.

Now don’t panic just yet. There are several moments of Bush-bashing here, but there's rarely any cheap laughs. Everything that comes out of Bush’s mouth is proof enough that the man is pretty incoherent to the English language.

The popular example: Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning? (My computer’s spell check won’t stop bugging me about that sentence’s phrasing. Maybe it doesn’t understand normalcy.)

W. is a showcase for Josh Brolin. The man doesn’t just reference Bush’s mannerisms. He literally transforms himself completely to become him. The way Brolin moves, talks, squints, laughs, drinks, and stares while playing Bush are all so effortlessly created that he actually plays Bush better than, well, Bush. How? He actually makes us care about the man. How the hell did he manage to do that?

The rest of the cast includes several heavyweights. Elizabeth Banks (who seems to be in every film this fall, no complaints here) plays the first lady, James Cromwell as Bush Sr., Ellen Burstyn as Barbara, Richard Dreyfuss as Cheney, Jeffrey Wright as Colin Powell, Thandie Newton as Condi, Toby Jones as Carl Grove, and Ioan Gruffudd as Tony Blair. It’s hard to explore every character subjectively, and Stone stays away from that because this is in fact the sole-story of Bush. Smart move.

The film won’t make much at the box-office and won’t change the way we look at Bush, but it’s nice to know that filmmakers are still able to question those in power through the medium of artistry. I look forward in seeing how this film will be placed in years to come when we know for sure just how bad Bush did at his job he got paid $400,000 a year to do.

-Spell Check: is our children learning (Order of words: Consider revising)

Suggestions: Are our children or Is our child

Ignore all.

The spelling and grammar check is complete.