The central problem with Oliver Stone’s new George W. Bush biopic is what should have been it greatest strength, the performance of star Josh Brolin in the title role. Brolin has showed great versatility in the past, from the charming, comedic stint hosting Saturday Night Live to his gritty and menacing portrayal of a thoroughly corrupt cop in American Gangster. Sadly, his Bush is more like the former than the latter and it robs the film of any chance of serious consideration. Brolin is unavoidably likable in an way that his subject is not. Even at his most worst, Brolin is goofy and even cute and never summons the caustic and galling sanctimony that has been Bush’s hallmark and provided endless fodder for The Daily Show and others. Nowhere was the unctious George W. Bush who patronizes and talks down with such palpable disdain for those who don’t agree with him- and engenders such bitter hatred. Brolin’s Bush is a dim but well meaning man/boy that strives to live up to his fathers’ expectations in a sad way that creates a sense of empathy which the real Bush does not invoke for most people- or deserve for that matter. Brolin is also thoughtful and has moments of introspection that, though he might, one can’t imagine the real George W. Bush ever having himself, so tragically for all of us. While Bush is certainly a cinema worthy character of Shakespearian proportions, for so many around the world, it’s impossible to feel anything but contempt, let alone compassion, for him.
The fault for the film’s shortcomings lay not just with Brolin but with Stone as none of the other portrayals rise above late night comedy sketch quality. Thandie Newton is particularly bad in her mimicry of Condoleeza Rice, and Jeffrey Wright’s Colin Powell bears no resemblance to the original whatsoever. Perhaps most disappointing, though, is the dreadfully miscast Richard Dreyfuss’ take as Dick Cheney. Unlike the more versatile Brolin, cold eyed, humorless sanctimony appears beyond Dreyfuss’ portfolio and he can’t help but exude a cuddly lovableness- a core humanity- that, needless to say, his subject lacks. Stone either never recognized the suburban, community theater level work of his cast as such as the film was rolling, or wasn’t concerned too much about it in lieu of his big picture message- and most likely it’s both.

On the positive side of the ledger, Stone does a nice job, with literal visual aids, of putting on display the big picture thinking that went into the Iraq invasion- the grand plan for an eternal American footprint in the center of the Middle East. While oil was certainly part of the equation, the overarching idea was more idealistic than simply the corporate harvest of Iraq’s oil reserves. What the “No blood for oil” crowd on the left has never appreciated is the galling messianic ambition that has been Bush’s guiding light for all these years. While he is no doubt happy to throw chum to his and Cheney’s corporate buddies, Bush’s core mission since 9/11 has been akin to the Catholic desire to bring the “good news” to the natives of Latin America which assumed the trade-off of righteous enlightenment in return for political subjugation and cooperation in the discovery and prosecution of traitors. That is always what has been missing from the legion of Bush impersonations that portray a bumbling, neerdowell, cowboy wannabe who landed way out of his league and aspired to nothing more than doling out spoils to his frat boy buddies in pinstripes. What Stone missed was the chance to portray the real George W. Bush, a man so consumed by his own self righteousness that he is not only impervious to criticism and differing opinions- and warnings- but has nothing but scathing contempt for anyone who disagrees with or doubts him, and by literal extension “God,” in any way. That contempt extends to indifference to the wholesale destruction of whole villages and towns in Iraq or Afghanistan and condoning the use of torture on a personal level. The Bush in Stone’s movie would have been disturbed by the photos from Abu Ghraib and might have looked himself in the mirror. The real Bush no doubt just chuckled and made jokes about the subjects in the grisly images.

While, with World Trade Center and other recent work, Stone has clearly wanted to rehabilitate his reputation and avoid another round of the ideological criticism he got over over his heavy handed JFK, by playing it safe and cute, once again, George W. Bush got off the hook and avoided the waterboarding he so richly deserves.