Given Oliver Stone’s often incendiary point of view and the snarky tone of the commercials for his new biopic of George W. Bush, it’s a surprise that his “W.” actually stands for “wistful.” In the director’s sensitive, fascinating Oedipal deconstruction of our malaprop-prone 43rd president, the man in his own garbled words is played for laughs only in the most gentle — almost affectionate — way.
More often than not, instead, Bush comes off as a kind of empty vessel devoid of introspection or malice. Through Stone’s lens, Stanley Weiser’s script and Josh Brolin’s astonishing performance, he’s an endearing, if slightly dim, good ol’ boy victimized by a disapproving famous father and a senior administration of craven or megalomaniacal henchmen.
