Ensconced in a hot tub overlooking the Las Vegas strip with a gaggle of naked Playmates and strippers doing blow, Congressman Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) is transfixed by a TV newscast of Dan Rather – well, his funny-looking turban at least - embedded in a decidedly pricklier situation: covering the 1979 Afghan mujahideen insurgents’ clash with the Soviets. When Charlie gets back to Washington, he asks his assistant Bonnie Bach (Amy Adams) to look into this Afghanistan situation out of curiosity, and soon finds himself embroiled in the largest and most expensive CIA covert operation of all time.

Charlie’s impetus to action is Houston socialite Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), a striking, networking guru who uses her looks – and body – to convince Charlie to embrace the Afghan cause, and put an end to the Cold War. She arranges for Charlie to visit Pakistan’s President Zia (Om Puri), who then chauffeurs him via helicopter to an Afghan refugee camp. The haunting images of the camp stir Charlie’s anti-Commie blood and now, he’s in it to win it.

In steps the maverick, curmudgeonly CIA operative Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who helps Charlie with the diplomatic wrangling and weapons knowledge. Sporting shades, a Tom Selleck moustache, protruding gut and yapping in a guttural snarl, Hoffman once again proves he can do no wrong. Whenever he’s onscreen the film comes alive, as Hanks and Hoffman trade droll lyrical barbs (courtesy of a wry, quick-fire script).

Eventually, the unlikely trio negotiate an even less likely alliance between Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and of course, Afghanistan, against the Red Menace – with Israel providing the Soviet-made weapons, and all the other countries ponying up cash towards the mujahideen’s fighting efforts. The U.S. government’s secret funding of the anti-Soviet jihad eventually balloons from $5 million to $1 billion (a sum matched by the Saudis), and the mujahideen, finally possessing the funding for anti-aircraft, drive out the Soviets in ’89.
The sense of culture clash at play could have been better realized here, since it’s barely touched on save an awkward exchange between Charlie and the Pakistani President over the lack of booze on his premises.

Adapted from a 2003 book by the late George Crile, of "60 Minutes" fame, Charlie Wilson’s War has been adapted for the silver screen by renowned director Mike Nichols (The Graduate) and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin ("The West Wing"). Charlie has much in common with Nichols’ previous likeable politico with a wandering eye, Governor Jack Stanton (a.k.a. Bill Clinton) in Primary Colors, but unlike that film, Charlie clocks in at a brisk 97 minutes. Hanks, playing against type as the Rick Blaine-esque playboy, doesn’t quite possess the sex appeal for the role (ditto for Julia Roberts as a Texas socialite), but gets by on his magnetic charm. It would’ve been interesting to see Matthew McConaughey as Charlie, however.

Also, Nichols may be satisfying his own twisted curiosity here, considering that his current wife, "Good Morning America’s" Diane Sawyer, was one of Charlie’s many past lovers.

It’s no easy task converting a near 600-page tome into a 97-minute film, but Nichols and Sorkin have done a commendable job. And it’s refreshing to see a charismatic, prurient politico in a favorable light following the overblown (no pun intended) Clinton fiasco. However, aside from a funny tidbit about Charlie battling drug charges at home in a federal case led by one Rudolph Guiliani, there is a palpable air of uneasiness while viewing Charlie Wilson’s War, since Charlie’s actions came back to bite us in a big way.

An afterword is provided in the form of a quote by Charlie: “These things happened… and then we fucked up the end game.” Tonally, it’s a strange, uneven way to end the film. Rumor has it that the original ending was supposed to have been a shot of the Pentagon in flames, implying that Wilson and Herring had abetted Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda henchmen, but was cut at the behest of Ms. Herring herself.

For all its faults, Charlie Wilson’s War is a fun ride, thanks in no small part to the immensely entertaining personalities of Charlie, a charming bullshit artist, and Gust, the bitter, blunt bastard who cuts through it like a knife. Perhaps a better way to remember these two colorful characters and conclude this amusing saga is with a little gem by Gust: “What brought us together was chasing pussy and killing communists.”