Replies

Agreed. I took my wife to see it today. Really, really liked it. Great acting by Hanks and Hoffman. Julia Roberts role could have been played by a dozen other women though.

But if they hadn’t cut out some wackjob part about our work in Afghanistan causing 9/11, it would have ruined the movie for me entirely.

Otherwise, it’s just great to see hollywood write a great script and perform a movie which is pro-American for once. And there was a pretty big turnout at the theatre we went to at 1pm in the afternoon.

They did leave in the part of our abandonment of Afghanistan contributing to 9-11, but that’s the truth. And it’s a good thing to remember now with lots of people wanting us to flee Iraq.

I’ll be interested when the DVD comes out to see if they release the much protested but apparently never seen version.

I just saw the film a few hours ago and was amazed at it’s evenhandedness. If Joanne Herring is right about the fight she put up to change the original script’s hit-job features then she must be every inch the pistol as portrayed in the movie. Indeed, her actions may well turn out to have saved the film from being dismissed by audiences as just more politicized hackwork. It is thoroughly character-driven and Tom, Julia and Philip strike sparks off each other.

There is an amazing lack of partisan cheap shots throughout, remarkable in this season of Hollywood’s all-out blame America-thon. Yes, Charlie’s role in saving Pigeye’s flabby butt from Abscam in exchange for his appropriations assistance is made clear.

The movie does indeed end on an ominous note with Charlie being frustrated by the way we write off Afghanistan the moment Russians leave. This is entirely appropriate.

I give it four stars and will be reading the book as soon as possible and that’s the highest praise I can give for any movie.

Julia Roberts role could have been played by a dozen other women though.

Google Joanna Herring and see what see looks like. I did it right after seeing the film and looked at the pictures of her in the book. She is really looks a lot like her. Last night History channel had her on and even after all the years that have past you can see why the picked Roberts.