Aaron Sorkin, known for scripting stories with witty banter in political settings, adds to his list with  Charlie Wilson's War. However, maybe it's just me, but I didn't feel exactly comfortable with this movie. It's a real-life story about Texas congressman Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks), who was in the right position at the time to be able to provide secret funding and weapons for the Afghan rebels who were fighting the Russians near the end of the Cold War, and who was persuaded to do so by a socialite activist (Julia Roberts) and a very frank CIA agent (Philip Seymour Hoffman, the film's main highlight).

Charlie Wilson's War sounds like a spy movie but it's handled as a comedy, and while the whole thing is droll (there's more than a few funny exchanges in the film), it also feels weightless. Also, since the movie covers a full plate of very specific events, the story moves by like a quick history lesson, so the comedy ends up feeling like sugarcoating to make it all go down easier.

Apparently, the idea is for us to be fascinated by how this whole thing came together and ended up handing the Soviets a big defeat (and then, in what feels like a bit of tacked-on irony in the epilogue, led indirectly to arming Al-Qaeda and the Taliban), but the approach most directly leads one to finding it all amusing. Although I found the film generally pleasant, I thought there would be more to chew on afterwards. (Capsule review)

(Released by Universal Pictures and rated "R" for strong language, nudity/sexual content and some drug use.)

Review also posted at www.windowtothemovies.com.