This is based on a true story about a US senator name Charlie Wilson who was instrumental in getting the Russkies out of Afghanistan in the inglorious days of the cold war. Tom Hanks stars as Charlie Wilson along with renegade CIA agent Gust Avrakotos played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, goes about getting funding to rid the hell hole in the desert of the vodka sculling Commie bastards. Julia Roberts make an appearance looking like some freakish bat out of hell as the conservative Madam Herring who helps Charlie get funding as well as get off.Trash talking bad mouth Phillip Seymour easily steals the show as Gust with his bad ass attitude and irreverence. The plot tries to twist a little with the sniff of a scandal involving Charlie and drugs, but this is quickly swept under the carpet without much grace. If this movie is anything to go by then Charlie Wilson was a bit of a playboy who had lots of sex with hot sexy women. Not just with prostitutes and interns like the senators today. So what the heck is Tom Hanks doing playing this role? He doesn't seem at all convincing as a debonair playboy.
The Good- Hot women, a little nudity and Philip Seymour Hoffman's bad ass mouth.
The Bad- Hot women - I would have expected some of his women to be a little sleazy. Very linear plot. The scandal involving Charlie and drugs should have been developed a bit more and maybe its affect on Charlie explored a little more.
And the Ugly- Portraying poor Russian Pilots like insane Viginia Tech shooters in Huge Russian Hind copters hell bent on wiping Afghanistan from the face of the planet. Add to this hundreds of scenes of russian helicopters, tanks and varous other vehicles getting blow up by the Mujahedin. I hope people understand that there are poor russian soldiers and pilots inside these exploding bots of hardware. These poor soldiers/pilots probably just wanted to get the hell out of Afganistan - which is a shit hole by anyone's standards - Afghans included.
