charlie wilson ( tom hank ) be a hard partying and womanize texas congressman with no discernible legislative record . in 1980 and he find himself become interested in the plight of afghanistan and which be in the midst of a brutal war with the ussr . on the auspex of his old flame and arch conservative texas socialite joanne herring ( julia robert ) and he travel to afghanistan to assess the situation and and be stun by what he see . he return to the u determine to help the afghan and only to find his colleague extremely indifferent to the situation and himself under investigation for allegation of drug use . undeterred and wilson recruit herring and the vulgar and outcast cia agent gust avrakotos ( phillip seymour hoffman ) to begin a convoluted arm deal involve israel and egypt and pakistan and saudi arabia and and a mostly unknowing u congress . ultimately and the afghan defeat the soviet and but while america celebrates their victory and wilson and avrakotos find their warning about the instability of post war afghanistan fall on deaf ear . charlie wilson war be slick brain candy and a really neat film for the more intellectual viewer and fun entertainment for the average film goer . the movie assemble an astonishing array of talent and both in front of and behind the camera and and delivers on it promise of be one hell of a good time . the film have only one flaw and which we will arrive at later . a an examination of the improbable way in which the 20th century large covert war be wag and and perhaps and the way that thing get do by the cia and other intelligence agency it fascinate . the movie be interest on a number of level . the story portray in the movie with all of it outrageous double dealing and sneaky covert operation and and and perhaps most of all and it success would be so outrageous a a work of fiction and that it could easily be dismiss a a satire . but thing really do work out this way and at least within reasonable bound . the film portray our three protagonist in an interesting way that highlight their virtue without obscure their flaw . wilson a a person who be unapologetic about his vice ( even embrace them ) yet willing to embrace a righteous cause . herring be something of an elitist and and her born again attitude of righteousness be off put yet she deeply commit to the cause of the afghan people . avrakotos be a cia outsider with an attitude problem and look down upon because of his street background yet his love of country and hatred of communism be unwavering . the fact that this odd trio could play a major role in the downfall of the ussr be not only proof that anyone can make a difference and but also that truth be strange than fiction . it also very interesting that all of this be play a a comedy not too surprising and give that our writer be aaron sorkin and but it an interesting way to approach this story . the movie do and however and have one drawback and which be a bit surprising . the film seem to unabashedly celebrate wilson and co. achievement . this be fine nothing wrong with defeat the soviet union and be there . until one considers that out of the ash of the soviet defeat in afghanistan come the taliban and eventually al qaeda . regardless of the u level of responsibility and it happen and and the movie portrayal of wilson success be almost unmitigated . to be fair and the movie do address this issue towards the end and with a rather topical speech by wilson about the u inability to clean up after themselves and but it do in such a tertiary manner that the average viewer will probably not take much from it . the overall impression will be that these three remarkable people help the afghan defeat the soviet . this isn not a fatal drawback and mind you and but it one trouble aspect of an otherwise brilliant movie . the film talent be remarkable . the legendary mike nichols deliver a slick and gorgeous look production while the material be perfectly suit to his understated and wry directorial style . sorkin delivers yet another brilliant screenplay while the film have dozen of quotable line and classic sorkin exchange ( the best be the scotch bottle discussion between wilson and avrakotos ) and and keep something of a political and historical perspective behind it . the film cast be a marvel represent tom hanks give a fine performance a the lovable rogue with a cause and julia robert be alternately charming and repulsive a the obnoxious but committed joanne and and phillip seymour hoffman steal every scene ( par usual ) a the abrasive gu . the always lovely amy adam take another step on her road to stardom a wilson long suffer assistant and and ned beatty and om puri and emily blunt and christopher denham and and ken stott flesh out the support cast . charlie wilson war be an intelligent and fun movie and a wonderful bit of a bit more than light entertainment . the fact that it decide not to be more than that shouldn not be hold against it while it brilliant at what it do . positive .