"NEVER EVER SICK AT SEA"

How do you know when you're an hardcore Aaron Sorkin fan?

When you're the only person in the theater laughing their ass off at the Gilbert and Sullivan reference. And not because it's funny, but because it's a flick written by Sorkin and you knew that there had to be one in it somewhere and there it is. And it's the same reference used in Malice, which comes in one of the most Sorkiny moments of that not-very-Sorkinesque flick.

I had the same concern about Charlie Wilson's War that I did about The Farnsworth Invention. It's material based on actual events and real people and maybe...maybe that is limiting(?). It is not the product of the machine that cranked out Sports Night or The West Wing, and a writer's voice is modulated by the production it goes through.

Well, Farnsworth was dripping with Sorkin. Even the most casual, but reasonably informed, observer would notice that.

Charlie Wilson's War was not so heavy in the voice (certainly not quite as much as his other films), but it was very much there and there were surely a line or two where it just hit you on the head with a congressional gavel. There was a taste of The West Wing, big surprise being set in the halls of Washington (among other places).

I enjoyed the fuck out of it. Gust Avrakotos and Charlie Wilson are characters unlike any Sorkin's taken on before. It also had a M*A*S*Hyness to it, with it's liberal slant and the dramedy aspect. Charlie Wilson, despite being an actual guy, surely has roots in Hawkeye Pierce.

I wonder if Sorkin has ever even seen an episode of M*A*S*H? And if he did, did he like it?

Go ahead Aaron, you can answer in the comments.

And you know, the movie does seem to highlight the how the gap between liberal and conservative has grown and become ridiculous and totally counter-productive.

I was also a little relived that Julia Roberts wasn't actually a massive presence in the movie. Not because I don't like her, I just don't think she was right in this part.

Oh, and Sweeney Todd was cool, despite Anthony Stewart Head only being in it for 2.21067 seconds...and uncredited.