W.
Lionsgate | Release Date: October 17, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
56
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
21
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
W., a biography of President Bush, is fascinating. No other word for it. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
You'll be disappointed if you expect famed leftist Oliver Stone to apply a coup de grace to this man. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Seems a much more even-handed and thoughtful take on the man than anyone might have expected. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
A measured and thoughtful meditation on a leader who, this terrific movie believes, inadvertently made the world as roiling as his soul. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
The pleasure of Mr. Stone's work has never been located in restraint but in excess, a commitment to extremes that can drown out the world or, as in this film, give it newly vivid, hilarious and horrible form. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
An often compelling, tragicomic psychological analysis of Dubya, viewed through the prism of his relationship with an allegedly disapproving father. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
In the end it depicts its subject as lost, and pitiable--like Richard Nixon, but more a pawn than a dark knight. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The performances are good (some scarily realistic), and the movie is enjoyable to watch. But as a probing analysis of the 43rd president, it falls short. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
In the end, W. makes up in immediacy what it lacks in objectivity. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
W. is not a dispassionate biography; it is an interpretation of personality intersecting with history, and as a piece of drama it is persuasive and perfectly creditable. Read full review
70
SlateDana Stevens
Like Tina Fey's Sarah Palin, Stone's George Bush gets his best lines straight from the source. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Passably interesting, occasionally riveting and largely superfluous. But it's certainly a worthwhile curiosity, and it's not what anyone expected. At the movies these days, that alone is worth something. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
When it works, W. can take your breath away. When it doesn't, you can feel Stone still working out his feelings toward the man. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Whatever you think of Dubya, he has balls. The movie doesn't. Read full review
60
NPRBob Mondello
A surprisingly unsurprising film. Read full review
60
Film ThreatDon R. Lewis
W. is the kind of film that demands discussion and only then can we start to decipher what Stone's intentions are towards our President. Read full review
60
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Like all Stone movies, W. has energy and forward momentum--particularly in the pre-presidential sections, when Bush is in his loose-cannon phase. It's not boring, and Brolin is often remarkable. Read full review
60
SalonStephanie Zacharek
It's when Stone engages in shameless editorializing -- when he lets his freak-flag point of view fly, rather than tempering it -- that W. is most entertaining and most vital. The rest of the time it feels too much like awards bait: stiff, arch and knowing. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The intrepid one is the outstanding Josh Brolin, who does such a phenomenal job in the title role that he carries every scene he's in to a place of subtlety and integrity far beyond what Stone needs to make his attention-grabbing noise. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Stone paddles down the giant river of Bush's life without exploring any of the tributaries; he passes by two or three dozen better movies along the way. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
It's most entertaining for its stunt casting of movie stars as the president's family and advisers. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
It's a gutsy movie but not necessarily a good one. Its greatest strength is that it wants to talk about what's on our minds right now and not wait for historians. Read full review
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
For a film that could have been either a scorching satire or an outright tragedy, W. is, if anything, overly conventional, especially stylistically. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleJosh Rosenblatt
In our age of 24-hour news coverage, this rehashing of current events doesn't just come off familiar but completely unnecessary. And, worst of all, prosaic. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Unlike the filmmaker's previous stabs at presidential biopic-ing and conspiracy theorizing - "JFK" and "Nixon" - this one doesn't have the luxury of historical perspective. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
In spite of Josh Brolin's heroic efforts, W. is a skin-deep biopic that revels in its antic shallowness. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Superficial, uninformative, and inert, this two hour snoozefest isn't even inflammatory enough to stoke a righteous anti-Bush brushfire. W. does for recent history what Oliver Stone's epic "Alexander" did for ancient times. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
None of it is new, nor is the recycled stuff presented in a newly revealing context. Read full review
42
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Stone may think he's made a movie about the toxicity of the Bush presidency, but what we have instead is a cautionary tale of a decidedly lower order. As far as I can make out, the real message of W. is: Don't vote for anybody who talks with his mouth full of food. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
W. isn't gripping enough as drama or witty enough as satire. It's neutered. Read full review
40
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Richard Dreyfuss, hunching over and baring his teeth like a shark cruising off a Martha's Vineyard beach, does a wicked impersonation of Cheney. His relish for the part suggests that the movie should have been done not as an earnest bio-pic but as a satirical comedy -- as a contemporary "Dr. Strangelove," with a cast of satyrs and clowns. Read full review
40
EmpireHelen O'Hara
Disappointing. Stone whipped this out in time for the US Presidential election, but it’s hard to see how it’ll make any significant impact on voters. Or why it even should. Read full review
40
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
A painful movie to endure. Read full review
40
TimeRichard Corliss
The movie is an X-ray of an invisible man -- by the film's end, the W. still stands for Who? Read full review
40
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Why this movie -- a rushed, wildly uneven, tonally jumbled caricature -- and why now? Read full review
38
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The movie plays like a dunk-the-clown game at a carnival. Through intent or ineptitude, he sets up the Bush family and administrations as caricatures. Read full review
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