War, Inc.

[teflon]

John Cusack, Marisa Tomei and Hillary Duff.

The big screen debut for director Joshua Seftel is also the third film John Cusack has been involved in writing. The concept is 'What if war was run by companies?' which is already partly true anyway.

It definitely falls into the satire category and has John Cusack as the cool guy (big shock since he helped write it) who is a sort of fixer/hitman for the a company which is involved in the occupation of a fictional middle-eastern country called Turaquistan. He meets a sexy journalist (Tomei) who is out to do a discrediting article on his company who he then plans to use to lure in the President of Turaquistan as a sort of honey pot so he can carry out his mission to kill him.
But Cusack ends up having a moral compass after all and being heroic all around the place.

Another major character is a sort of Syrian Britney Spears played by Hillary Duff who is getting married in a big publicity stunt to sell America to the recently 'liberated' towelheads.
Dan Akroyd and Ben Kingsley also feature as corporate American CIA type guys.

There are a lot of funny little background jokes in the film although it is always played straight and none of the characters ever find the satirical stuff to be unusual or amusing. Examples include gambling websites and the FT advertised on the side of tanks, and the big CIA boss guy being based in the cellar of a fast foot joint.

There is also a surprising comic turn by Joan Cusack playing her real-life brother's PA as an obsessive compulsive sort of lady.

It's not too bad overall and you should maybe check it out if you liked Grosse Point Blank, Syriana or Idiocracy.

Satire, Middle East, Corporate America.