There's been much talk about the historical accuracy of this movie and evidently the filmmakers took some liberties in regards to some of the details and even made up the odd character here or there. The bottom line is that this movie is based on real events and the movie does a really good job of telling a very compelling story...so what if they had to embellish some points for the sake of entertainment.  

The movie follows the exploits of Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson.  He's a single, womanizing, hard-partying member of the U.S. House of Representatives who happens across the story of Afghani refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of their home country into Pakistan.  Upon hearing of this "war" in which the people of Afghanistan are being out muscled and basically massacred, he begins funneling congressional funds to aid the Afghanistan fight against the Russians...eventually appropriating hundreds of millions of dollars which led to the defeat of the Communists.

First of all, the acting in this movie is truly exceptional.  It's not every day where you watch a movie and every major character is played so convincingly that you forget that these are actors playing roles.  That's exactly how this movie is.  Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman are all superb in their respective roles.  They all do a great job embodying their characters.  Hoffman is especially convincing as Gust Avrokotos, the CIA officer who worked with Wilson to aid the Afghanis against the Russians.

This type of film has the tendency to become tedious and boring by the end, but Charlie Wilson's War does a really good job of injecting just the right amount of humor into each scene to keep the plot moving effortlessly along.  The movie offers an interesting perspective on the events surrounding the largest covert war ever funded by the United States government. Mike Nichols can really be credited with pulling together so many great performances and telling such a compelling story.  His direction is spot on in this film as it has been in previous films such as Angels in America and Closer.

This is a really great movie.  There are so many components that make it attractive to many different people.  It has big name stars, a track-proven director, drama, comedy, and a slightly flawed history lesson.  Overall, it's a movie that's well worth seeing.