mike nichols' CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR (2007)

most everyone has had the displeasure of seeing a favorite book neutered and mismanaged on the road to the silver screen, and George Crile’s superlative nonfiction yarn Charlie Wilson’s War shouldn’t be an exception to that rule: the story of Texas Rep. Charlie Wilson’s successful efforts to covertly arm Afghanis against their Soviet oppressors is terrific material, but the sequence of events is convoluted and tangled as only real life can tangle them. it’s that much more miraculous, then, that Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation is not only reverent but indeed a nearly perfect model of how such daunting material can play effortlessly onscreen. Sorkin (redeeming himself after the dreadful “Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip”) makes every choice with precision and wit, freely molding Crile’s details into a characteristically snappy, streamlined script that does the book’s larger-than-life characters and story full justice without bending under the weight of adaptation. it helps, of course, that Sorkin’s script attracted veteran subversive Mike Nichols (confidently continuing a career resurgence here) and the unexpected comedy team of Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman, all of whom are almost unfairly suited to the material. Charlie Wilson’s War could have easily been a misfire, but the talent and professionalism at hand make for one of the most satisfying (and refreshingly adult) mainstream efforts of the year.

(from the KNOXVILLE VOICE)