It's hard to imagine a political film, let alone one that deals with events that lead directly to 9/11, as being all that funny. "Charlie Wilson's War" pulls it off though, and manages to make covertly arming the Afghani mujahedeen seem like a zany lark. Until, of course, the last reel.
"Charlie Wilson's War," directed by the always good Mike Nichols (everything from "The Graduate" to "Closer"), traces the true story of U.S. congressman Charlie Wilson, a party-hearty, womanizing Democrat from rural Texas. This guy managed, almost single-handedly, to direct massive military aid to Afghan guerrillas resisting the Soviet occupation of their country in the 1980s.
Wilson is played by Tom Hanks, and if his usual image is a bit too Mr. Nice Guy to make him a natural fit for the role, he does bring the sort of easy charm that allowed a borderline-alcoholic congressman to cajole his colleagues into approving huge budget allocations for a covert war.