W (2009)

stereotypical left wing view of a group of uninteresting politicians

I was dissapointed with this film, especially for an Oliver Stone film - has age wearied him or was he stifled and stymied to get this film released? He lets George Bush off the hook big time and portrays him too sentimentally - as a loveable, goofy, gaffe ridden, harmless, well meaning, misdirected rich mans son. If it were as simple as that. Watch the directors commentary to hear what Oliver Stone really thinks and feels about Bush and all of the destructiveness he wrought on the world - this is the film I wanted to see.

Seriously uninspiring, worth watching only for Josh Brolin's fine performance as Dubya. I fell asleep in the first half, my husband in the second and neither of us were interested enough to watch the bits we'd missed.....

Brolin is great but this is a 2 dimensional biopic which gets very boring in bits

Wayward son gets religion and rises to the presidency all in a effort to get his father's approval. Pretty bland depiction of George Bush jnr which skims along the surface of events. Give it a W for Weak.

Shows what George W Bush was made of and based his presidency on. Such a shame america did that!

I found this to be a pointless, boring movie experience. I love political history movies, but this just didn't seem to ring true at all. It seemed to be that it was an over-characterisation of the key players, and not many of them were very good impersonators. Condie Rice comes across as a dithering idiot (even moreso that W) and Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfield were just not accurate. I didn't see any realism in it. We all know W was a bit silly, but I didn't find this to be realistic or believable at all.

pretty bad. but then i guess i should have expected it given the content

Not a great movie but interesting. Great acting by James Brolin. Watch the making of movies for fascinating background into Bush and the politics.

Really interesting, engaging movie. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

An interesting and sometimes eye-opening look at W's life - found out quite a few things I didn't know about the former US Pres. Great performances all round and not surprisingly, directed by Oliver Stone, will hold your attention throughout. A little too much jumping around from past to present, was sometimes hard to keep track of where you were in the film. Also, a rather abrupt and disappointing ending. Not too bad all round.

Interesting

interesting to learn about the true relationship between father and son. well written but felt it was too much of a justification on the war in iraq.

I found this movie dragged and seemed to be written from a bias point of view towards George Bush. Interesting perspective though.

Excellent move. Just shows you what goes on in politics. And father and son relationships. Excellent acting by Josh Brolin, he has the looks, he could run for office himself! His stepmother Barbara S could help him along the way, as she is quite an influence.

Not a bad film - carries itself well but overly cynical in its treatment of W. The film carries a clear agenda in its interpretation of the life and reign of W, but is still interesting viewing. The quality of the package is no less than one would expect from a driector the caliber of Oliver Stone, and is a film worth watching whatever your political and personal views of George W Bush are.

I didn't expect to love this as much as I did. The lead is brilliant as GWB. Perhaps it was made too soon after Bush's reign in the White House to be that successful, but a smart political movie with just the right sense of the absurd. Not flattering but given what has been uncovered since the Iraq invasion, how could it be? One gripe - the actor playing Condie Rice plays her too stiff.

Josh Brolin portrayed George W Bush very well. Interesting account of Bush's beliets, motivation and personality.

boring....get a life

Very interesting.

An interesting and thoroughly entertaining perspective on Bush the man and Bush the President. I don't know how accurately this movie reflected the truth, but it certainly paints a pitiful picture of George W. Bush and provides some insight into the roles played by others such as Powell and Cheney.

I was quite surprised with this movie. Oliver Stone was very generous in his depiction of W. He paints W was a rather sad figure, never living up to his Dad's expectations and failing to live up to the heritage of his family. Even as president, Stone portrays W as being genuine in trying make the right decisions, but being lead astray by Cheney and his military cronies. Dreyfuss is masterful here. The weak point in this movie is the portayal of Rice. Well worth a look too see Dreyfuss best work in years.

I was really disappointed with this movie. As it's Oliver Stone, I was expecting a lot and unfortunatley, W. just didn't deliver. It's slow, hard to follow at times and bordering on boring. Yes, it does a good job at showing just what a complete moron George W. was, but hey, we all knew that anyway! Give this one a miss. More interesting things in life to do, like washing your hair.

Hilarioius movie. I especially loved the pretzel scene! My main criticism was with the casting of Thandie Newton as Condi Rice-- she looks NOTHING like her.

Interesting movie. Shows his true colours of what a liar and cheat, not to mention the drunk, he really was. How he ever became president and held office for two terms is beyond me especially when he has had such a shady past. Still money really does buy everything especially when you are running for president and rig the elections to go your way. A must watch movie.

Typically subtle-as-a-WMD approach from Oliver Stone, but it's the performances - particularly Dreyfuss as the devil incarnate - which make it worth watching.

This is George W the person. Who he was before and during the presidency. Very interesting movie - draw your own conclusions. What I got out of this movie is not what Oliver Stone intended. His commentary is worth listening to but the movie is much more than he even realises. Watch the outtakes, with and without his commentry. This is one DVD that is worth a second and third look.

As someone who detests George W as a fundamentalist Christian holding extreme views and putting new meaning to the word stupid, I found the movie enjoyable. The roles of Josh Brolin and support cast (particularly Richard Dreyfuss and Toby Jones) were well protrayed. Thandie Newton (UK actress who is usually very good) while looking the part of Condoleezza Rice, played an annoying if not stupifying role and gave poor American accent (finding it difficult to hid her strong English/Coronation St type accent). Amongst the extras, there are some interesting comments about "democracy" saying how can "W" expect to preach democracy when he does not allow people to make fully informed choices based on a full disclosure of facts and people fully understanding them. Commentators also criticize moves in US government towards the improper use of executive power in any government and avoiding the process of consensus building synergy through all levels of government and sourced from the people. Perhaps it was "way too kind with the truth" which is unusual for Oliver Stone who is normally "self indulgent with the truth".

Didn't like it. Didn't believe one minute Brolin was Bush. Especially when Bush being in his twenties and having Brolin forties face playing it, looks so wrong. Terribly boring and uninteresting, had enough seeing Brolin speaking while eating or drinking. Bush is the kind of president we should all forget like this movie by the way. For an Oliver Stone movie, I am really disappointed.

If this movie makes you question your beliefs about George W Bush, it has achieved what it probably set out to do. Sounding and looking uncannily like George W Bush, Josh Brolin makes the man more articulate and smarter than he is generally given credit for: a president who is actually in command and dominates his inner circle. And yet he is taken in by their false hopes and dreams of American glory. The movie makes us consider the reasons this may have happened. But there are no easy answers; just the sad realisation that years and years after "mission accomplished" the troops are still in Iraq.

Josh Brolin he don't look like Dubya, unless it was pasted on Dubya.

Not bad, a few humerous moments

A surprisingly accomplished piece, if run through with Stone's characteristically clumsy conspiratorial overtones. Post 9/11 America has been imperial but not quite in the secret master plan way Stone depicts it. The portrait of Bush is almost too kind in a way, especially in its assignment of an emotional eloquence to Junior, which his suspicious, callous, fixed frame of mind, with its one idea idealism, in reality seems less than likely to allow for. Still, it's worth a watch just to get the feel for the way Brolin spirits Bush's persona to the screen with such candour and charisma. Oh, and Dreyfuss as Cheney is spectacular.