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Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Something doesn't smell right with Charlie Wilson's War. I'm not particularly concerned with the specific facts it has left out of its telling. But what has been left in feels compromised and dodgy. Read more
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: As creator and head writer of The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin had a gift for making policy debate seem sexy, but what worked in the context of that liberal fantasy founders badly amid the realpolitik of this cold war drama. Read more
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: I didn't believe a bit of it, thanks to the movie's style, except for some newsreel and documentary footage, and even that felt epoxied on. Read more
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: The season's oddest and perhaps most effective war movie. Read more
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: When Charlie Wilson's War is on target -- pretty much every time Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman appear on-screen together -- it's a really enjoyable movie. Read more
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Contrary to what Sorkin and Nichols seem to think, the problem is not that topicality and entertainment don't mix. It's that audacity and self-congratulation don't. Read more
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Charlie Wilson's War is an anachronism, the wrong movie at the wrong time. Not only does it tell its tale in a style that feels dated and artificial, the story itself focuses on events that history has overtaken. Read more
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: It is briskly paced, nimbly acted and crisply directed by Mike Nichols. Read more
Tom Charity, CNN.com: Maybe it wasn't his fault those chickens came home to roost in the form of the Taliban, but you have to wonder: Would Nichols have given Oliver North such an easy ride? Read more
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Hanks may at first seem like an unlikely choice to play a seasoned Texas playboy bachelor, but he's so ingratiating that he almost pulls it off. Read more
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Highly entertaining -- and mildly uncomfortable. Read more
Tom Long, Detroit News: A well-intentioned wreck. Read more
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Charlie Wilson's War is a journalistic satire of realpolitik in which our jerry-rigged alliances, which looked strategic at the time, end up biting the U.S. in unforeseen ways. Read more
Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com: Nichols and Sorkin have made a Cadillac of a movie, a handsome, beautifully designed chassis with a powerful motor and luxurious attention to detail. Read more
Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Mr. Hanks comes through with an egoless performance -- no movie star is so adept at not acting like a movie star -- and Mr. Hoffman continues his year of doing no wrong Read more
Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Mike Nichols' fast-talking political comedy says every word but Osama Bin Laden. Read more
Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: This entertaining romp, directed by Mike Nichols, has elegantly turned bluster to burn, and a host of true-blue American types who don't even pretend to be flesh and blood. Read more
Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: All of a sudden, Hoffman is having one of the most spectacular years any movie actor ever had. Read more
Jan Stuart, Newsday: Sorkin is a deft explicator of Washington geopolitics for dummies, but he patronizes us with blunt lessons on the mujahideen and Afghanistan geography. Read more
David Ansen, Newsweek: Hoffman brings out the best in Hanks -- they riff off each other with delicious comic teamwork. Read more
Anthony Lane, New Yorker: The film, adapted from George Crile's book, doesn't always work, but it sure offers value for money. Read more
David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Tells a momentous story -- a story every American should know -- in a boisterous, lickety-split style that makes the history lesson go down easily. Read more
Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: If Charlie doesn't feel quite real, Hanks at least makes him good company. Read more
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: A feel-good comedy about a covert US effort to fund resistance to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan? What will Hollywood think of next? Read more
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: The history that's here is worth knowing, and Hanks, Roberts, Hoffman and Nichols make those Beat-the-Russkies '80s seem like a party. Read more
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Charlie Wilson's War tells its tale briskly, almost merrily. This is not a sober history lesson, but a political comedy laced with sex (party girls in limos, strippers in hot tubs), booze, and even good old-fashioned cocaine. Read more
James Berardinelli, ReelViews: With its rapid pace, smart screenplay, and top-notch acting, this is one of the 2007 Oscar season's most appealing and compelling adult motion pictures. Read more
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Nichols fills the edges of the screen with unforced humor. Read more
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Though not great, Charlie Wilson's War is definitely worthwhile and entertaining, and clocking in at a modest 98 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome. Read more
Dana Stevens, Slate: A funny, sprightly tribute to the American can-do spirit, with a bleak ending that suggests that our plucky protagonist may have just dug his own (or, in this case, his country's) grave. Read more
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The film moves along smartly despite being stuffed to bursting with details of arms deals, diplomatic ploys and political maneuvering. Read more
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Hanks' performance as Wilson is tone-perfect, capturing both the public-servant seriousness and playboy rakishness of his character. And he does it without breaking a sweat. Read more
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Charlie Wilson's War takes a kernel of truth and roasts it into a popcorn movie. There's terrific fun to be had, and much wry comedy too. Read more
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Tom Hanks delivers another of his patented good-guy roles. Read more
David Fear, Time Out: Just because a politically savvy satire has an eloquent tongue in its cheek doesn't mean the message won't seem painfully obvious. Read more
Wally Hammond, Time Out: The performances are likeable and entertaining, while Nichols pumps the whole proceedings with a satisfyingly fluid, dramatic energy. Read more
Christopher Orr, The New Republic: [Philip Seymour Hoffman's] rumpled, cranky spy is hilarious--George Smiley by way of Jack Black--but with an edge of quiet ferocity that makes every scene he's in play a little sharper. Read more
Claudia Puig, USA Today: While not deeply insightful, Charlie Wilson's War is an eye-opening and sassy tale of political will making for unlikely bedfellows. Read more
Todd McCarthy, Variety: Charlie Wilson's War is that rare Hollywood commodity these days: a smart, sophisticated entertainment for grownups. Read more
Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: The big-screen Charlie Wilson's War, clocking in at 93 fly-by minutes, is dark and funny and mean and sexy, damned near pitch-black-perfect considering that at the end of this boozy comedy you wind up with, oh, Osama bin Laden. Read more
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: Gosh, does this movie have it all or what? Smart dialogue, Julia Roberts in a bikini and looking grrrrrr-eattttt, and Russian helicopters going boom! It's also short! What's not to love? Read more