Directed by Oliver Stone; written by Stanley Weiser; director of photography, Phedon Papamichael; edited by Julie Monroe; music by Paul Cantelon

With: Josh Brolin, James Cromwell, Richard Dreyfuss, Jeffrey Wright, Scott Glenn, Thandie Newton, Bruce McGill, Dennis Boutsikaris, Toby Jones, and Elizabeth Banks. Rated PG-13. Running time: 129 minutes

Reviewed by Mollie Schmidt

I approached this film with caution, expecting either an apology for our president, George W. Bush, or a scathing indictment of his life and administration. The film is neither. Instead, I think it is a fair depiction, neither sympathetic nor overcritical of the man.

Bush is shown as a wastrel in his early years, drinking and failing in a series of jobs. He is also shown in later years as a charming, effective politician who helped his father win the presidency before he, himself, did. The film cuts back and forth between Bush, the president, conferring with his coterie of Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld, Rice, Tenet, Wolfowitz, and Rove, and scenes of youthful excesses: a frat initiation, car wrecks, his courtship of the young librarian, Laura.

At the barbecue where Bush first meets Laura, he appears likeable, articulate, one of the boys. In many scenes throughout the film, he is shown eating, talking with his mouth full, or swigging at a beverage. Even after his conversion, there are always soft drinks, bottles of water, or sandwiches in sight. Is this a symbol of acquisition, of a needy hunger, perhaps of anxiety? The film leans heavily on the Freudian notion of conflict between father and son. Maybe too heavily, as over and over, we experience in some form the whine, “You love Jeb more than me.”

The change of the wild, alcoholic, acting-out young man into the sober, law-abiding holder of office is well handled. Bush, according to the film, was trying to run his usual three-mile jog after a binge, when he became physically disabled and lay on the ground, looking at the sky. This scene cuts to his work and prayer with a pastor. In scenes that follow, Bush calls for prayer after contentious discussion among cabinet members, including after his decision for a preemptive strike on Iraq. (He looks over to make sure Cheney has closed his eyes).

James Cromwell, playing George H. W. Bush, gave a strong performance as the sarcastic critic of his younger son, as he bails him out of jail, settles a paternity suit, and gets him into major schools. He then becomes nearly silent as he witnesses W’s political successes. I would have liked more dialogue at this point, as one can’t help feeling curious about Bush Senior’s reaction to the strike against Iraq.

 Elizabeth Banks played the role of Laura Bush with sensitivity. One admires her self-control as she copes with the drinking, aggressive driving, sudden move to Washington, and, finally, the nightmares of her husband. The couple’s two daughters are hardly glimpsed.

 Lots of action scenes, bright, sunny colors, lively conversation-one would think that lifted spirits would be the result. But W. is the story of a tragedy. The man it portrays seems hollow, driven by personal resentment, risen above his level of competence. The story is his tragedy and that of the country.