This absurdist political farce has its moments but requires a deft touch for satire ... perhaps no one could have made the uneven script work.
Comment
07/30/09
War, Inc. (2008)
29
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:77
Fresh:22
Rotten:55
Average Rating:4.5/10
Consensus: War, Inc. attempts to satirize the military industrial complex, but more often than not it misses its target.
Theatrical Release:May 23, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $515,643
Synopsis: John Cusack plays an assassin in the star-filled satire that takes aim at war. Joan Cusack, Marisa Tomei, Hilary Duff, and Ben Kingsley also star.
Starring: John Cusack, Hilary Duff, Marisa Tomei, Joan Cusack
Director: Joshua Seftel
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Reviews for War, Inc.
Sophisticated political satire, ridiculous farce, black humour, spoof, intellectual game playing and comic invention
02/06/09
It’s as if the movie is stuck in a muddy middle, unable to go whole hog with its sending up of toxic Americana and unwilling to be serious about exploring how toxic it really is.
10/29/08
War, Inc. squanders some top-tier talent (Marisa Tomei, Sir Ben Kingsley) as well as our patience.
10/18/08
Top CriticWhat is supposed to be a sharp parody is so slow, we're always several steps ahead.
10/18/08
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10/18/08
Either too cartoonish, or not cartoonish enough.
10/18/08
This John Cusack-driven exercise in scorched-earth political comedy is neither as dark nor as timely as intended, and certainly not as funny.
10/18/08
Top CriticPiercingly funny political satire with terrific cast is on view in this future-set story.
10/18/08
If there's one thing a comedy needs, it's a good exit strategy.
09/26/08
Despite flashes of comic inspiration and an abundance of anything-goes boldness, this well-intentioned but wobbly satire is a chaotic free-fire zone.
07/18/08
Top CriticNice try, but this hallucinatory polemic never jells.
07/14/08
Any hopes you might be holding out for a smart, sophisticated political satire will immediately be squashed at the sight of Dan Aykroyd on the toilet.
07/06/08
Only occasionally hits the target.
07/03/08
Top CriticWhile its plot aligns War, Inc. with other, higher-profile action-thrillers, its political critique is more explicit and its ad campaign more oblique.
07/03/08
...there's plenty of material ripe for savage satire out in the world right now, and while I approve of the targets War, Inc. took aim at, I can't say that it ever scored a direct hit.
06/29/08
Cusack as a mercenary in bulltetproof designer suits and Hilary Duff doing a kinky Arab superstar sexpot shoving scorpions down her crotch, can't save this satire crossing the line between the chaos of war and the chaos of filmmaking.
06/28/08
A film that confronts the absurdity and violence of modern warfare by taking it to the surreal and goofy next level.
06/27/08
An Iraq satire being released past the point when discussing the occupation has become wearying and parodying it a slow-target yawn.
06/26/08
For critics of the war with an appetite for red meat, War, Inc. will prove filling, if not quite completely nourishing.
06/26/08
Top CriticLatest News for War, Inc.
January 21, 2009:
Razzies Name 2008's Worst Movie Nominees
No awards season would be complete without the Golden Raspberry Awards (AKA The Razzies), awarded each year to the very worst movies to hit Hollywood. This year's winners will... More...
June 28, 2008:
Cusack as a mercenary in bulltetproof designer suits and Hilary Duff doing a kinky Arab superstar sexpot shoving scorpions down her crotch, can't save this satire crossing the line between the chaos of war and the chaos of filmmaking. 
More...
June 23, 2008:
Ben Kingsley Is Everywhere
Think you're seeing Ben Kingsley everywhere lately? It's no optical illusion -- his roles in The Love Guru and The Wackness are just two of the many projects he's got lined up... More...
May 22, 2008:
RT Interview: Joan Cusack on War, Inc., the Unofficial Sequel to Grosse Point Blank
Joan Cusack and her little brother, John, have co-starred in ten films together since the early 1980s; this week they join forces again to skewer the military industrial... More...
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