CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR — WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

If you'd like a good, realistic look at what the Middle East and environs might have been like (and a look at how our form of government works), you must see Charlie Wilson's War.

Tom Hanks is great as Charlie Wilson, the playboy Texas Congressman; Philip Seymour Hoffman is superb as Gust Avrakotos, the blue collar spook who made the entire thing possible; and Julia Roberts does a neat turn as Joanne Herring, the millionairess who inspired Wilson to get involved.

The supporting cast, including four of Wilson's office staff (who Robert's character refers to as "sluts"), Wynn Everett, Mary Bonner Baker, Rachel Nichols and Shiri Appleby, do terrific work (although all have some good lines, one of the "sluts" — and forgive me for not knowing which one — has the best. When asked by a constituent why there are nothing but attractive women staffing Representative Wilson's office, she replies: "They can teach them [men] to type, but they can't teach them to grow tits").

Amy Adams (who played Will Ferrell's girlfriend in Talladega Nights: The Ricky Bobby Story), does a nice turn with her part as Wilson's indispensable, indefatigable aide-de-camp.

The repartee between Hanks and Hoffman is rapid fire and hilarious, and the tale is a sort of clairvoyant fable.

Mike Nichols who directed the movie, stayed as close to the facts as possible and turned the Aaron Sorkin script (I refuse to believe that screaming bundle of political assininities produced this script, but he got the credit for it, so I'll have to go with it) into a winner.

I hope it wins an Oscar, so long as it doesn't win one for "best screenplay from a book" (of the same name, which was written by George Crile; worth the read before or after the movie) for Sorkin.

Wilson (who has retired back to Texas) and the CIA are often blamed by the left for the arming of what became the Taliban (and thus 9/11). In truth, it was the US Government's refusal to tend to Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawl that insured the Taliban's rise to power and today's situation in Afghanistan.

But don't let the truth get in the way of a damn good movie. Sit back and enjoy.