War, Inc.: Critic Reviews

An overbearing lampoon of American war profiteering -- a comedy so leaden it could make a liberal hate liberal Hollywood.

The problem with gonzo moviemaking, in this case, is that nothing really adds up. What initially appears whimsical eventually seems sloppy. And when the bleeding heart kicks in, you feel betrayed.

Though it occasionally tries too hard, the fast-paced and sharply written War, Inc. is audacious and entertaining.

For critics of the war with an appetite for red meat, War, Inc. will prove filling, if not quite completely nourishing.

War, Inc. fires off dozens of lethal dialogue squibs like 'War is the improvement of investments using other means,' but it doesn't connect them into anything that can truly rattle an audience's complacency.

War, Inc. squanders some top-tier talent (Marisa Tomei, Sir Ben Kingsley) as well as our patience.

War, Inc., which takes on the shifty world of Bush-policy blowback, has too much happening, which befits a comedy with a lot of targets but ultimately makes the whole operation scattershot.

Despite flashes of comic inspiration and an abundance of anything-goes boldness, this well-intentioned but wobbly satire is a chaotic free-fire zone.

A brave and ambitious but chaotic attempt at political satire.

War, Inc. has that provocateur's edge, and it's at least awake to the world around us.

Like so many satires in the Strangelove mold, this never comes close to working as a story, but its lampoon of U.S. imperialism and military privatization is so bracingly obnoxious I didn't really care.

Only occasionally hits the target.

War, Inc. was non-directed by Joshua Seftel, who is to film direction what Marvel Comics is to classical literature. It was filmed in Bulgaria -- and they should never have allowed it out of the country.

A blackly comic take on the first totally outsourced war? We're too close to being in one right now, which makes this John Cusack vehicle too close for comfort. It's also so close to being funny you can just about taste it -- just about.

I love John Cusack, but I can't imagine what he was thinking as the star, producer and co-writer of the mind-boggling Iraq satire War, Inc.

It all adds up to a fast pace, lots of shooting, and a movie that, in its heart, is as corrupt as the politics it attempts to satirize.

If Harold & Kumar feels deliberately dumbed down, War, Inc. tries too desperately to show off its intelligence.

This well-intentioned satire is a regrettable misfire.

Somehow, what starts as a series of cheap shots in a barrel develops into something more, thanks largely to warm, engaging performances by Cusack and Tomei. War, Inc. is both right-on and somehow off, but it gets points for trying.

This absurdist political farce has its moments but requires a deft touch for satire ... perhaps no one could have made the uneven script work.

Sophisticated political satire, ridiculous farce, black humour, spoof, intellectual game playing and comic invention

It's as if the movie is stuck in a muddy middle, unable to go whole hog with its sending up of toxic Americana and unwilling to be serious about exploring how toxic it really is.

Piercingly funny political satire with terrific cast is on view in this future-set story.

This John Cusack-driven exercise in scorched-earth political comedy is neither as dark nor as timely as intended, and certainly not as funny.