Hilary Duff Movie:

		List Price: $34.98		Label: First Look Studios Salesrank: 36217 Released: October 14, 2008
		Our Price: $10.99
		Used Price: $8.06
		MPAA Rating: R (Restricted) Media: Blu-ray

Editorial Review:
Recreating his role as a hitman, John Cusack gives a hilarious performance in War, Inc., a political satire set in Turaqistan, a Country occupied by an American private corporation run by a former U.S. Vice President (Dan Aykroyd). In an effort to monopolize the opportunities the war-torn nation offers, the corporation's CEO hires Hauser (Cusack) to kill a Middle Eastern oil minister. Now, struggling with his own growing demons, the assassin must pose as the corporation s Trade Show Producer in order to pull off this latest hit, while maintaining his cover by organizing the high-profile wedding of Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff), an outrageous Central Asian pop star, and keeping a sexy left-wing reporter (Marisa Tomei) in check.

Description of War, Inc. [Blu-ray]:
A wobbly mix of violence and sentiment, War, Inc. takes up where Grosse Pointe Blank left off. A conscience-stricken killer in the previous film, producer/co-writer Cusack now plays an international assassin. In Joshua Seftel's political satire, corporations operate like governments. In the volatile nation of Turaqistan, Cusack's hot sauce-addicted Brand Hauser sets his sights on Omar Sharif--the oil baron, not the actor (it's never clear why this is meant to be funny). As a cover, Hauser passes as the producer for an economic trade show with fellow operative Marsha (Joan Cusack) acting as his assistant. Trained by Southern smoothie Walken (Ben Kingsley) in his CIA days (depicted though flashbacks), Hauser now takes orders from an oily CEO (Grosse Pointe co-star Dan Aykroyd). Offing Sharif, however, turns out to be harder than expected. Hauser's obstacles include left-wing journalist Natalie Hegalhuzen (Marisa Tomei) and foul-mouthed pop tart Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff, erasing innocent images of Lizzy McGuire). Cusack and his crew come up with a few clever ideas, but too many crass gags blunt their thesis about military contractors run amok. Pitched somewhere between Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove and Mike Judge’s Idiocracy, War, Inc. registers as more of a miss than a hit. On the plus side, Cusack and Tomei have a snappy rapport; it's the more over-the-top performers who look out of place, especially Ms. Cusack and Kingsley, though the latter's deft turn as a boozy hit man in the overlooked You Kill Me almost makes up for this misfire. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

War, Inc. [Blu-ray] Reviews:
Blu-ray cheaper than the DVD
2009-10-31 - At the time of this review, the BD at 10.49 is substantially lower than the DVD price. Bargain hunters take note. The picture quality and audio quality is passable for a BD, but definitely better than dvd quality. It is also widescreen.

The Arctic town scene makes it look like a serious spy movie was going to erupt. The comedic music should have alerted me.

This BD should be kept away from the hands of children as their heroine Hillary Duff is spouting profanity continuously and staying in sexy poses. The antithesis of Lizzie McGuire. Hillary Duff walks a fine line between mocking a culture and mocking a religion. No fatwas have been issued against Duff, so we are good. Hillary Duff sings a few ditties in this movie.

Jeffrey Donovan and Gabrielle Anwar (Burn Notice TV series) would have made a better job of deadpan comedy. Physical slap-stick comedy is not necessary for this sort of satire.

My American friends find this movie difficult to swallow, because they see in this movie their tax dollars wasted in Turaquistan, which has all the letters of I-R-A-Q in it.

The rest of the world might find this satire spot on and cutting too close to the bone. Whatever your political views are, this BD is worth the price.

Unwatchable!
2009-09-20 - I am a big fan of John Cusack but this movie is so unwatchable and unfunny that even Cusack looks terrible in it. You can sometimes see in his face that he knows his lines stink. The movie's approach to being funny is to have everything be over the top and that gets old very fast. Skip and avoid it.

PS: I didn't finish it.

Point Blank Gross...
2009-08-22 - If you loved John Cusack, as I did, in the perfectly dark comedy "Grosse Pointe Blank", I would suggest you stay away from "WAR, Inc." in order to keep intact the image of the character Cusack played. "War, Inc." presents us with an odd mutation of that character, a mutation that is neither funny nor in any way compelling... The background this time is a fictional, war torn Middle Eastern country where all the natives behave like stereotypical cartoon versions of themselves. The World has been taken over by corporations which governments subcontract to conduct wars on their behalf. The more wars, the more profits. Cusack has been hired by one of the corporations to destabilize the region by assassinating the country's president. His cover: he is managing a contractor EXPO, where the main event is the wedding of a local pop star. The corporation headquarters are in the basement of the local "Popeye's Gravy and Biscuits"...If this sounds ridiculous, that's because it is. The humour never becomes intelligent enough or funny enough to graduate into the realm of political satire. As a viewer you are stuck, firmly surrounded by misfired jokes and poor filmmaking.

If you feel strongly compelled to buy this film, I suggest that you "test drive" it on Video on Demand for less then three bucks. Hopefully, this will prevent you from spending more $$$ on a DVD...


Couple laughs, but mostly misses the mark
2009-08-20 - Had some amusing moments, but overall this satire misses the mark. For every memorable scene (such as the artificial-leg line dance and the "virtual embedding") there are five more that fall flat. Marisa Tomei looks as great as she always does but is asked to do little; and John Cusack reprises his Grosse Point Blank character, but with far lesser effect. The only surprise was Hilary Duff, who I only know as being a Disney singer - couldn't name a single song - but did a half-decent job as the local wanna-be diva. I really wanted to like this, but just can't really recommend it very highly.

Cusak played a pretty cool, but warped character. I liked it.
2009-08-07 - Marisa Tomei, as the reporter Natalie Hegelhuzen was pretty hot in this movie. Hilary Duff was very good, as the irrepressible Yonika Babyyeah; the spaced-out, bitchy, one-dimensional, come-on sex-kitten, bimbo; who turns out to be the long lost daughter of Hauser (Cusak). Joan Cusak was particularly annoying and obnoxious as Hauser's Admin Assistant. Cusak had some great fight sequences in which he kicks butt. Well, kills butt. Really funny story line and hilarious circumstances that involve the characters in compromising situations. Really enjoyed the interaction between Cusak and Tomei. Dan Aykroyd's part really wasn't that funny; or needed.