Casualties of War

Star-studded satire veers off course in its critique of Bush policy | Meghan Keane

If the makers of War, Inc. knew what they hated about U.S. foreign policy, they would have had a much easier time satirizing it. As it stands, this John Cusack vehicle lobs so many haphazard political bombs at the Bush administration that it is left standing in a pile of rubble by the end.

Replete with large-scale explosions, political intrigue, and assassination plots, War, Inc. (rated R for violence, language, and brief sexual material) lampoons the world's first totally outsourced war. Cusack plays hit man Brand Hauser, sent to Turaqistan to kill a Middle Eastern oil tycoon so that the Tamerlane Corporation can solidify its monopoly status in the area.

Posing as a trade show producer, Cusack must supervise the performance of Middle Eastern starlet Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff) while managing the one person who could bring this behemoth display of American braggadocio crashing down—a sexy liberal journalist played with the mussed hair charms of Marisa Tomei.