67
Metascore
39 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliWith 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.
- 88Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanCharlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanHanks has a good time, romping around with the assurance of a holy fool. He and Roberts seem "actorish," putting on accents and mannerisms, but they're entertaining. Hoffman is something more, a scenery-devouring force of nature irresistible as a cyclone and irreverent as a stand-up comedian at a midnight show.
- 83Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanIt's all about a likable scoundrel who discovers what it means to act out of conviction. The film's underlying twist, though, is tartly ironic.
- 80VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyCharlie Wilson's War is that rare Hollywood commodity these days: a smart, sophisticated entertainment for grownups.
- 80Village VoiceRobert WilonskyVillage VoiceRobert WilonskyDark 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.
- 75Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversRude, crude and hilarious, whether he's hitting on Joanne or brokering the sale of Soviet weapons through Israel and Islamic Pakistan, Hoffman is the film's sparking live wire.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttIn this film, directed by Mike Nichols in one of his most satirical moods and scripted by Hollywood's most politically astute writer Aaron Sorkin, a womanizing, alcoholic, easily tempted bachelor gets elected in a Texas district that doesn't care what he does as long as he brings home the bacon.
- 70NewsweekDavid AnsenNewsweekDavid AnsenOf course, hanging over this ironic tale is the deeper historical irony--that many of the "good guy" rebels Charlie is funding (and we're cheering) will become our mortal enemies...It's as if "Titanic" ended with a celebratory shipboard banquet, followed by a postscript: by the way, it sank.
- 70The New YorkerAnthony LaneThe New YorkerAnthony LaneIt packs political machination, helicopter gunships, single-malt whiskey, Las Vegas, Islamabad, naked butts, and eight years of war. The film, adapted from George Crile’s book, doesn’t always work, but it sure offers value for money.
- 70L.A. WeeklyElla TaylorL.A. WeeklyElla TaylorWatching Charlie Wilson’s War is like sitting through a very long episode of "The West Wing."