Is Oliver Stone's "W" being pitched as a comedy?

[wuushew]

A new trailer came out September 24th which is full of Bushisms and zingers set to the musical backdrop of the Talking Heads.

The previous July teaser trailer had none of this comedy and showed a verbal altercation between father and son, interlaced with images of alcoholism.



Should I be worried if Stone(who has never directed a comedy) has chosen this path?


Have you heard anything about this film and is Oliver Stone still a competent film maker given his track record the last ten years?

[Cattledog]

1. More like Satire

[Phred42]

2. Well - The Bush Administrations HAS been a Joke

Sorry, Someone was going to do it

[BlooInBloo]

3. I'm looking for something along the lines of zingy-satire. Like NBK.

[Warpy]

4. He says it's an evenhanded biography of Stupid

but they might be trying to pitch it as a comedy just to get those butts in the seats.

Stupid is radioactive. We're all totally sick of the man and his bungling. We want him gone and would not seek out a fair treatment of his life. We might, however, turn out to see him savaged by a comedy.

Stone really should have come out with this movie 4 years ago. However, if it's as true a study as he says it is, perhaps it'll be one of those films that high school history students will be shown for the next few decades, a cautionary tale about choosing their vote by who they want to stand next to in a bar.

[wuushew]

7. Probably because it would have been unfavorably compared to Michael Moore's work

Fahrenheit 9/11 works on so many different levels. Both sad and funny at times, it is well shielded against criticism because no one can level accusations that it is a work of fiction.

The real Bush doing stupid and evil things on camera cannot be refuted.



Stone is late to the party again.

[mr_hat]

5. I don't get the timing of this film.

I'd rather stick a fork in my eyes than spend 2 hours with the life of Dubya, when the actual self-satire is still out there fucking stuff up.

[Olney Blue]

6. I know- who is going to go see it?

:wtf:

[SheilaT]

8. I've seen a couple of trailers for it.

It seems to me as if it's being pitched as straight bio.

I don't intend to see it.

[amdezurik]

9. the one I am confused by is the anti-Moore one

coming out, something like a re-make of Scrooge with Bull O'Lielly as a "good guy" or something? I just can't figure a reason for it. Kind of like all these stupid "spoof" movies lately that are so lame.

[ladjf]

12. I admire Moore. He is definitely on the side of the Democrats.

So far, his works have seemed to have stopped short of nailing Bush for the real criminal that he is.
But, he has probably done the best he could under the circumstances. Chances are, if he had really made criminal accusations and was able to back them up, either (1) we would have never seen the movie or (2) Moore would be rotting in jail.

If the Congress can't convict Bush, how could any private individual do so?

[stillcool]

10. From the clips I've seen..

it looks like a caricature. I don't think I will see it...I have completely lost my sense of humor when it comes to George.

[ladjf]

11. That was my criticism of Moore's movie, "Fahrenheit". It left the

viewers with the impression that our biggest political problem was that Bush was a dumb, greedy clown. By doing that, it obscured the fact that Bush was the front man for arch criminals who were committing treason, larceny,murder and other horrible crimes.

I hope that the move "W" doesn't just turn out to be a comedy about an inept President. He is far worse than that.

[davsand]

13. We saw that preview in the theater yesterday.

Has a clip of him with Babs and he's telling her he wants to run for President. She reacts with absolute scorn and shock, "You want to do WHAT?!!!"

I'll grant you, we were in an audience of Coen Brothers fans (Burn After Reading) ad I suspect they might lean more left than some other filmmakers, but the audience sat there in absolute silence. Hubby leans over to me and says, "Oh my God! That movie is a comedy?" My response was obviously heard by a few people because I responded with "I'd rather DIE than sit thru anything about that fuckup." THEN a few people around us laughed.

Stone and his movies have all pretty much left me cold--with the exception of Platoon. I have zero interest in seeing that film, and I suspect that attitude is probably pretty widely shared. I can see NO way to make anything about the asswipe in chief either entertaining or even remotely interesting.


Laura

[LBJDemocrat]

14. Stone's attempts at satire and criticism often backfire

For instance: Wall Street has inspired countless kids to get into the New York financial services industry. Also, Scarface, which he wrote, continues to inspire scores of thousands of high school gangstas.

I'll skip it.

edit: Let's not forget his nauseatingly bland and empty-headed latest film World Trade Center.

[Algorem]

15. "it's a comedy"-USA Today

First look: Oliver Stone's 'W.' is not quite out of left field

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2008-09-23-oliver-stone-w_N.htm?csp=34

...With outstretched arms and raised head, the character's body forms an unmistakable symbol: W.

It's the opening scene of Oliver Stone's movie of the same name, which he is still racing to finish in time for its debut Oct. 17. Stone chronicles the youth of George W. Bush, his rise to the White House and the crises he has faced over the past eight years. And it's a comedy.

Though dramatizing culture and politics is familiar ground for the director of JFK, Nixon and World Trade Center, this film's satiric tone is something new for him. Not that he thinks the actual history is funny.

"It was so painful for me. The reaction is to laugh a little because the pain would be too much," he says, sitting in his office after showing the first act of the movie in his editing bay...