war and inc. ( 2008 ) half john cusack and marisa tomei and hilary duff and joan cusack and ben kingsley and dan aykroyd and sergej trifunovic and lyubomir neikov and ned bellamy and ( voice of represent montel williams ) a hit and miss 21st century strangelovejohn cusack who co write the script with mark leyner and jeremy pikser star a a jaded hit man name brand hauser who be burn out but decide to follow thru on one final assignment by ice a middle eastern oil minister name omar sharif ( yes and not that omar sharif but you get the tone here from this misfire for a laugh ) commandeer by the ex vice president of the usa ( aykroyd and cusack old grosse pointe blank co hort and do a mean dick cheney manqué turn here ) and enlist brand to do the deed under the guise of a trade show producer in mythical turaqistan ( read represent iraq or afghanistan ) for the american private corporation tamerlane ( read represent halliburton ) . while be brief brand be face with a moment of clarity when he come across intrepid journalist natalie hegalhuzen ( tomei ) and eventually fall in love with her . meanwhile tamerlane be sponsor the unlikely union of eastern european teen sensation yonica babyyeah ( a surprisingly decent duff ape her own celebrity with tongue through cheek ) and the idiot son of the country leader . what follow be a bold attempt for a 21st century black comedy a la dr. strangelove but for all intense and purpose there be sadly more miss than hit in this broad try for laugh amidst political message ( an unjust war be outsource by american capitalism and check . ) while cusack riff on his martin blank from the aforementioned pointe he do add some nice touch of his man in black ( he do shot of tabasco sauce to take the edge off ) and the rest of the cast play catch up ( except sister joan who be a riot a the high strung aide de camp for hauser and have one of the film funny laugh out line represent my mass communication skill be finally pay off ) for the most part . cusack visit the iraq war earlier this year in the 180 degree different grace be go and here he allow his political view wear on his sleeve while while admirable overall the film pace and rhythm be off largely no thanks to first time filmmaker joshua seftel make his directorial debut here ( and it be noticeable ) except for maybe the well choreograph fight hauser be involve with babyyeah idiotic fiancé entourage . a nice attempt yet a misguided failure while maybe next time cusack would not try so hard and let the idiocy of war speak for itself instead of do the heavy lifting by himself .