Dead Cant Rant

We really wanted to like this movie. I’ve been very interested in the conflicts in Afghanistan for some time, and based on other reviews of this movie I had hoped to learn how the covert war against the Soviet Union was conceived, sold to the government, and conducted.

Instead what we got was a never-ending display of Tom Hanks playing a womanizing asshole, groping every woman around. The film focused on his sexual escapades more than the actual war.

The acting was largely horrible. Tom Hanks nearly matched his horrible performance in The Da Vinci Code, not an enviable feat. Julia Roberts was predictably wretched and looked like a painted clown, and her supposed Southern accent was terrifying.

The only high point of the movie was being able to watch Phillip Seymour-Hoffman’s always outstanding acting skills put to the task of portraying the CIA agent helping to run the war. This is the kind of guy you want to work with: no bullshit, pulls no punches, and will call you out for being full of it without hesitation, in public, loudly. I loved this character. One of the best scenes I’ve ever seen him in was in this movie, available on YouTube.

Too bad we couldn’t stand the rest of the movie and stopped watching after an hour or so.

Two stars solely due to Hoffman’s performance, otherwise it would have been one.