Do you want to see ‘W.’?

W. (2008)

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Average Rating: 6/10
Reviews Counted: 211
Fresh: 125 | Rotten: 86

A surprisingly sympathetic portrayal of the 43rd American president, W. is fascinating in spots, but merely rudimentary as a whole.

Average Rating: 5.4/10
Critic Reviews: 42
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 25

A surprisingly sympathetic portrayal of the 43rd American president, W. is fascinating in spots, but merely rudimentary as a whole.

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Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 107,700

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Movie Info

Josh Brolin stars as George W. Bush in this Oliver Stone biopic that traces the head of state's rise to power from a privileged alcoholic to a born-again Christian whose belief in religious destiny helped move him to the top ranks of political power. Co-written by Stanley G. Weiser, Bush is produced by fellow Stone collaborators Moritz Borman and Jon Kilik, with Elizabeth Banks co-starring as the first lady, James Cromwell as the elder President Bush, Ellen Burstyn as Barbara Bush and Richard

PG-13, 2 hr. 9 min.

Drama

Directed By: Oliver Stone

Written By: Stanley Weiser

In Theaters: Oct 17, 2008 Wide

On DVD: Feb 10, 2009

Box Office:$25.5M

Lionsgate

W. Trailer & Photos

More Photos (20)

Cast

Josh Brolin
George W. Bush
Elizabeth Banks
Laura Bush
James Cromwell
George Herbert Walker B...
Ellen Burstyn
Barbara Bush
Thandie Newton
Condoleezza Rice
Richard Dreyfuss
Dick Cheney
Jeffrey Wright
Colin Powell
Scott Glenn
Donald Rumsfeld
Ioan Gruffudd
Tony Blair
Toby Jones
Karl Rove
Stacy Keach
Earle Hudd
Bruce McGill
George Tenet
Jesse Bradford
Fraternity President

Critic Reviews for W.

All Critics (214) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (128) | Rotten (87) | DVD (8)

As Poppy Bush says, and says again,"You disappoint me, Junior."

November 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Film.com

| Comment

Jonathan F. Richards

Film.com

Top Critic

W. feels poorly timed: too late to have any effect on the public, most of whom long ago checked out on the President, and too early to provide more than a schematic interpretation of who he is.

October 20, 2008 Full Review Source: New Yorker

| Comment

David Denby

New Yorker

Top Critic

Perhaps Stone believed that the only way you can make sense of the George W. Bush debacle is by presenting it as a goof -- a Freudian cartoon. But if that's the case, he erred on the side of caution.

October 20, 2008 Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor

| Comment

Peter Rainer

Christian Science Monitor

Top Critic

It has its moments, one of the finest at the conclusion.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: CNN.com

| Comment

Tom Charity

CNN.com

Top Critic

The film may be ill-timed, arguably unnecessary and no more psychologically probing than any other Stone movie. But much of it works as deft, brisk, slyly engaging docudrama.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune

| Comment

Michael Phillips

Chicago Tribune

Top Critic

If Stone's portrait of George Bush is laid on with a trowel, maybe it's because God seems to have engineered the real Bush's life with a similarly crude sense of irony.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Slate

| Comment

Dana Stevens

Slate

Top Critic

No matter which way your political stripes run, W. won't likely rub them the wrong way.

September 28, 2011 Full Review Source: American Profile

| Comment

Neil Pond

American Profile Source: American Profile

Brolin outdoes himself in the title role.

August 16, 2011 Full Review Source: East Bay Express

| Comment

Kelly Vance

East Bay Express

Stone's film is like an affectionate kick in the groin of a good old boy you'd like to have a beer with, or with W today, a near Beer.

January 25, 2010 Full Review Source: Kinetofilm

| Comment

Brian Holcomb

Kinetofilm

I'm unsure who W. will really appeal to: It's a poor historical document; it's not nasty enough for people who hate Bush and too nasty for the few still supporting him.

August 30, 2009 Full Review Source: Washington Times

| Comment (1)

Sonny Bunch

Washington Times Source: Washington Times

Stone's filmmaking fails to charge the narrative with the needed turmoil

August 26, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion

| Comment

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

Aided by an Oscar-worthy turn from Josh Brolin, what "W." attempts is something far bolder than badgering. Instead, Oliver Stone spews a subtler invective than normal here - insightful and indicting of a country's complicity up to a point.

June 17, 2009 Full Review Source: Suite101.com

| Comment

Nick Rogers

Suite101.com

Uma mistura de document�rio e esquete do Saturday Night Live.

April 25, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena

| Comment

Pablo Villaca

Cinema em Cena

It's a film with a shelf life, I think. Unlike W himself, it should mature over time.

March 6, 2009 Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald

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Sydney Morning Herald

Stone and screenwriter Stanley Weiser have little...to offer us.

March 6, 2009 Full Review Source: The Age (Australia)

| Comment

Philippa Hawker

The Age (Australia)

An absorbing and weirdly enjoyable portrait of a slight, meritless man and his calamitous presidency.

March 6, 2009 Full Review Source: The Australian

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Evan Williams

The Australian

Endeavours this even-handed and entertaining shouldn't be "misunderestimated."

February 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Time Out Sydney

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David Fear

Time Out Sydney

An interesting post-mortem on the still warm corpse of a presidency, but not top-shelf Oliver Stone.

February 27, 2009 Full Review Source: MovieTime, ABC Radio National

| Comment

Jason Di Rosso

MovieTime, ABC Radio National

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Audience Reviews for W.

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Well-acted and well-shot, but doesn't provide an answer to the question everyone was asking: why make a biopic about a president you hate? It's almost like Stone was just trying to be the first to put this history on film, writing Bush-isms from press conferences into implausible Oval Office conversations and

January 23, 2009

Daniel Perry

Super Reviewer

Very interesting and insightful movie which flips back from W's youthful days to his days in the White House, its amusing in places and lets you in on all sorts of area's of W's life. Wether its all true is another matter, from his on off relationship with his father to his boozeful youth and to his almost inept

November 24, 2008

Phil Hubbard

Super Reviewer

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Latest News for W.

February 9, 2009:

RT on DVD: Oliver's W, Spike's St. Anna, and My Name is Bruce!
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November 7, 2008:

Video Exclusive: Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Banks on W.
RT sits down with Josh Brolin and his on-screen First Lady Elizabeth Banks to learn more about W.,...

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