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52%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #14,637
...out of 20,698 movies
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A meteor crashes in the Arizona desert, bringing with it; W. He is found by his father, Texas Oil Man, who helps him steal the presidency. A world of chaos is soon unleashed. W and his regime are challenged by liberal reporter BlueMahler and the newspaper, Issues and Alibis, but the world, under the leadership of W, becomes an apocalyptic nightmare.
--IMDb
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Review by Chad
Added: April 1, 2009
Obama hasn't been sitting in the White House for too terribly long, yet the man has already proven that he has no problems with going back on the promises that he made while running for office. He's also made a number of decisions that I've been none too fond of, but you know what? I think the guy could come over to my house and rape my daughter, and I'd still rather see him as president than live under the rule of another member of the Bush clan.
With that said, I have to admit that Bush jokes are getting rather old due to the fact that we've been hearing them for the past eight years. We all know that the man is functionally illiterate and we all know that he ranks up there near the top of that "Worst US Presidents Ever" list, but the jokes and the jabs simply wore thin years ago. In fact, a character in this very movie put it best when he said that "Nobody likes an easy target", and if the term "easy target" were to be accompanied by a picture in the dictionary, I do believe that Bush's face would be the chosen image.
So, when W: The Movie showed up in my mailbox over the weekend, I let out a mental groan at the thought of sitting through another ninety minutes of Bush jokes. However, I realize that someone out there made this movie and sent it to me with the expectation of getting some free press - good or bad - out of the deal, so I begrudgingly popped it in this morning. Surprisingly, it wasn't all that bad, thanks in large part to an almost psychedelic, very sci-fi telling of Bush's legacy.
The storyline begins when a meteor crashes into the Arizona desert, leaving behind a man with an American flag painted on his face. We soon learn that this is "Duhhh-bya" (Alfred Eaker), and we also learn that he and his disembodied head of a brother Jeb (Steven Gray) have every intention of winning the presidential election, regardless of whether or not the American people want him as their president. Thanks to the two quite literally cooking the votes, W is soon elected president, and from there... well, have you been keeping up with the news? The towers go down on 9/11, a war is started, oil is in big demand, Saddam is on the loose, weapons of mass destruction are rampant, and yes, W even takes on the role of the ringmaster for a local wrestling organization. Enter BlueMahler (also played by Alfred Eaker), a member of the "yes" party who sees a problem with Bush's devious ways. He's also a man who will go to great lengths to put an end to Bush's reign of terror, but at what cost?
This story may not sound very psychedelic when written out as a brief synopsis, and aside from the meteor thing, it probably doesn't exactly scream "science fiction" either. It's not so much the storyline, but the way that these events happen and play out. For example, there's the whole thing with Jeb being nothing more than a floating head throughout the film, the result of Bush decapitating him during a temper tantrum. There's also the fact that BlueMahler lives in a gingerbread house out in the middle of the desert, and let's not forget the ghostly assistant known as "Little Mikey Moore" that follows him around - an assistant who speaks at such a fast pace that one must use technology to slow it down and decipher his message. All of this is saying nothing about the none-too-subtle nod to The Seventh Seal and the bizarre environments that our heroes find themselves in, so it should go without saying that there are some strange surprises in store for viewers.
I was pleasantly surprised at how well this movie played out, as even though it did have its flaws, I can't say that it wasn't enjoyable. The CGI effects were a little silly at times... but they worked well in most scenes. There was some horrific acting by some of the minor characters that popped up from time to time... but the leads did a damned fine job. The storyline slowed down every now and then and started to lose my interest... but it kept me hooked throughout the majority of the running time. This is a film that does have its fair share of issues, but the overall product should go over nicely with those who disagreed with Bush's actions and who also enjoy a little slice of the bizarre on movie night.
Overall, I'm going to go with a recommendation here: not an overly-enthusiastic recommendation, but a recommendation nonetheless. Although it's rough around the edges, it does bring plenty of great laughs and a large number of "seriously, what the fuck" moments... and there's also some entertaining moments that weren't taken directly from the real world. I think a 7/10 sounds about right, and you can add to or subtract from that final score depending on how game you are for another round of Bush-bashing.
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