W.

Daughter Megan and I went to see W. tonight. It was OK, but certainly not great. I recommend that you wait until it comes out on Netflix. I'm not sure what Oliver Stone was trying to do with this movie. It wasn't particularly funny, and considering what it could have been, it wasn't really all that dark. In fact, in a weird way, it was actually quite sympathetic to Bush. It doesn't portray him as evil or stupid or used by those around him. It portrays him as a guy who could never live up to his father's expectations and his family name. But even with that approach, he doesn't fill in the characters or really give you a reason to care. James Cromwell did a decent job as Bush Sr., and Ellen Burstyn was a passable Barbara Bush. Laura Bush is as vacant as she appears to be in real life. Condolezza Rice comes across as a real ditz; Colin Powell is a guy with serious doubts who caves in because of loyalty to the chain of command; Rumsfeld isn't much of anything. There's a bit of menace in Richard Dreyfuss's portrayal of Cheney, but even that is somewhat muted. Rob Courdrey, formerly of The Daily Show, in a relatively small role, did a passable imitation of Ari Fleischer.

I think that Stone missed whatever mark he was trying to hit. I'd give W. 5.5 on a scale of 10.