So, the first screenings of Charlie Wilson’s War (30 new pictures here) have taken place and already several critics are weighing in with their opinion.
Todd McCarthy of Variety says:
Charlie Wilson’s War is that rare Hollywood commodity these days: a smart, sophisticated entertainment for grownups.
Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter proves again he can’t just say what he means, but the best I can get out of his review is this:
[Charlie Wilson’s War] might be the perfect antidote to today’s shrill political scene with Republicans and Democrats staking out intractable positions and accomplishing little.
Ramin Setoodeh of Newsweek said:
Charlie Wilson’s War is the perfect example of why you can’t handicap the Oscars race based on a film no one has seen. Sorkin paces the whole thing like a long episode of “The West Wing” dipped in “Studio 60 on the Afghanistan Strip.”
Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere said:
Charlie-o is not a Best Picture contender but then we knew that last week when Time‘s Richard Corliss called it — the unkindest cut! — “likable.”
Based on that it seems we aren’t getting much more than it looked like we were getting from the trailers. However, the comment above likening it to “The West Wing” does intrigue me as I loved “The West Wing” when Sorkin was a regular contributer, but my fear is that the film looks too smug and too aware of itself. Wells says it is a “wee bit smug”, which I am taking as an understatement until I see it myself.
I think one of the biggest blows to my expectation however comes as the HFPA has now labeled Charlie Wilson’s War as a Best Musical / Comedy contender rather than a dramatic contender. The poster makes it look like a goofy three-way love triangle story and the first trailer made it look just as bad, but at the beginning of the year I was expecting something of a tense satisfying drama. Instead it now joins the ranks of other films on the comedy/dramatic edge including The Savages, Margot at the Wedding, Juno, The Darjeeling Limited, Waitress and Lars and the Real Girl (via Hollywood Elsewhere). Pretty soon the category can just be named Best Dramedy with an Occassional Musical.
Suffice to say it seems like Charlie Wilson’s War is going to be nothing more than a two-hour made-for-movies television show with A-list actors. Buzz is still surrounding Philip Seymour Hoffman for a supporting nom (does he ever play any one other than Philip Seymour Hoffman?), but it seems any chance for Best Picture is out the window. I won’t know until a bit later as I haven’t even received a screening notice.
However, I did receive my notice for Sweeney Todd which is being slapped with a heavy embargo as the first official screenings of it will be occurring in L.A. today, but trades can’t run reviews until December 17th and I have been notified via mail, e-mail and carrier pigeon that my review can’t run until day of release.
I am not sure if many of you have checked out the newly launched official site, but it has plenty of the songs playing via the flash player in the upper right-hand corner. Mostly you get to hear Helena Bonham Carter wail away after she recently admitted that she had to learn to sing in three months while prepping for the role. Depp can be heard sporadically, but I will say it wasn’t as impressive as that early bit I heard. Perhaps Paramount just doesn’t know what to expect from critics and is therefore just holding their tongues until the final moment.
I get to see it on December 11th, but meanwhile I am killing another Oscar contender tonight when I get to see The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. After that it is just There Will Be Blood, but I think right now my favs of the year remain the likes of Atonement, Once and Zodiac… at least one of them will get a Best Picture nom…
