The year is 1980. Charlie (Tom Hanks) is a player. Charlie is a guy who gets more women than Hugh Hefner. Oh, and by the way, Charlie is a Democratic Texas congressman in a world of what he calls “ultra right-wing communists.” But the Russian invasion of Afghanistan marks a turning point in Charlie’s life. Urged on by a Houston socialite named Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), Charlie decides it’s up to him to supply the Afghanis with the state-of-the-art weapons they need to defeat the Russians. Aaron “West Wing” Sorkin based his screenplay on the book by the late George Crile of “60 Minutes” fame,” and director Mike Nichols tackles the subject of Washington and politics in his usual sexy, suggestive and crafty way. His last foray into this territory was “Primary Colors,” and this is just as smart. Roberts may not have much chemistry with Hanks, but their relationship is about business sex, not romance, and it works. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a rogue CIA agent, and with his rude and comical banter, he’s the movie’s live wire – he steals the show. Nichols’s directing is suave and sexy, fast and funny. In fact, the only big problem with this film is that it neglects to tell us what we, thirty years later, now know – that Charlie Wilson’s war may have helped bring an end to the Soviet Union, but it also helped create what turned out to be Al Qaeda.
