This October…Prepare…To Get…Bush!

A few weeks ago, I read a script review on Slate.com for Oliver Stone’s upcoming Bush 43 biopic, “W,” and felt a twinge of disappointment in regards to screenwriter Stanely Weiser’s approach to the material. George W. Bush’s presidency is more or less a self-parody to begin with. A parody of a parody isn’t funny. And from what I gathered in reading the review, which isn’t terribly well-written (I couldn’t care less which page something happens on, Ms. Lapidos), the script seems to emphasize Bush’s alcoholism, war mongering and daddy issues with all the subtlety of a Wayans Brothers film. I don’t like Bush. I don’t want to have a beer with him, and not just because he’s an untreated alcoholic. But I’d be more enthusiastic about the film if it had a little nuance.

Stone’s rushing “W” into production and hopes to have it in theaters by October, just weeks before the election. Why this is so important to him is anyone’s guess. Bush is ineligible for a third presidential term, so it’s not like the movie could hurt him politically. I think the film would be better suited for a January release, like the weekend before Inauguration Day. Dumping the movie in October will simply confuse audiences into thinking it’s a horror film or one of those pieces of potential Oscar bait that a studio doesn’t believe in enough to roll out around Christmas; think of last year’s “Lions for Lambs.”

As an actor, Josh Brolin won me over last year with his roles in “Grindhouse,” “American Gangster” and “No Country for Old Men.” I think he’s a little young to be playing Bush in his early-60s; he’d be better suited for Indiana Jones if Spielberg and Lucas were inclined to do a prequel or two or three, but I digress. Still, Brolin’s on the cusp of establishing himself as a solid character actor as well as a leading man. I’m sure he’ll make the most of the role, capturing the wildly inconsistent cadence and word-mangling that have made Bush’s speech patterns such a cottage industry for people who make desk calendars and publish books of Bush quotes. But if the film fails, I hope the blame falls solely on Stone and not him. After I saw “World Trade Center” in ‘05, I realized that Stone had finally proven himself as a very talented director of toothless made-for-TV movies.

Who knows? I’m speculating at this point. The movie could be brilliant and the review I read in Slate might have completely — ahem — misunderestimated the script’s finer qualities. Maybe this will be an October Surprise of a different sort.

-Brad Lohan

If you like this post, share it!