War, Inc. (2008)

A corporation hires a professional assassin to pose as its trade show representative who must organize the wedding of a Middle Eastern pop star, which will allow him the opportunity to kill a Middle Eastern politician.

Director:

Joshua Seftel

Writers:

Mark Leyner, Jeremy Pikser

Stars:

John Cusack, Marisa Tomei, Hilary Duff

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Cusack	...	Hauser
Hilary Duff	...	Yonica Babyyeah
Marisa Tomei	...	Natalie Hegalhuzen
Joan Cusack	...	Marsha Dillon
Dan Aykroyd	...	Mr. Vice President
Sergej Trifunovic	...	Ooq-Mi-Fay Taqnufmini
Ned Bellamy	...	Ooq-Yu-Fay Taqnufmini / Zubleh
John McLaughlin	...	Himself
Montel Williams	...	GuideStar Voice (voice)
Ben Kingsley	...	Walken / The Viceroy
Lyubomir Neikov	...	Omar Sharif (as Lubomir Neikov)
Nikolay Stanoev	...	Bhodi Bhundhang (as Nikolai Stanoev)
George Zlatarev	...	Director (as Georgi Zlatarev)
Bashar Rahal	...	Video Guy #1
Velislav Pavlov	...	Video Guy #2 (as Vesilav Pavlov)

Storyline

A political satire set in Turaqistan, a country occupied by an American private corporation run by a former US Vice President. In an effort to monopolize the opportunities the war-torn nation offers, the corporation's CEO hires a troubled hit man, to kill a Middle East 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, an outrageous Middle Eastern pop star, and keeping a sexy left wing reporter in check.

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Plot Keywords:

corporation | satire | reporter | assassin | pop star | 

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Taglines:

When it comes to war...America means business

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and brief sexual material

Details

Official Sites:

MySpace

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hungarian

Release Date:

13 June 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Brand Hauser: Stuff Happens

Filming Locations:

New Boyana Film Studios, Sofia, Bulgaria

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$45,714, 25 May 2008, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$580,862

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,299,855

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Crime Productions,B & W Films,Boyana Film Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The An-12B airplane shown at the beginning and end of the movie is owned and operated by Bright Aviation Services, based in Sofia, Bulgaria. Along with some other Bulgarian freight carriers, they are banned from operating in Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, and the European Union countries because of their safety record.

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Goofs

In the flashback, when Ben Kingsley's character aims his two guns at John Cusack's character in the garbage truck, he is holding his two guns with the two point fingers at the trigger. But when the camera switches, the left arm's finger isn't on the trigger anymore.

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Quotes

Natalie Hegalhuzen: Nice office.
Marsha Dillon: It's bullet-proof.

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Crazy Credits

BeTolerant.com is listed twice in the thanks section of the credits, despite this resulting in an odd number of entries and causing the last entry to have to go against the rest of the layout (centered, vs two-column) to keep things even.

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Connections

References Happy Days (1974)

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Soundtracks

Blood of the Lamb
Written by Jay Bennett, Woody Guthrie, Jeff Tweedy (as Jeff Tweedie)
Performed by Wilco and Billy Bragg
Published by You Want a Piece of Bughouse (ASCAP) / Warner-Tamerlane Publishing
Corp. obo Itself Ver Music and Words Ampersand Music (BMI) / Woody Guthrie Publications Inc (BMI)
Courtesy of Elektra Entertainment Group
By Arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User Reviews

A Funny and Topical satire.

In War, Inc we find the logical extension of the current outsourcing of all war-related activities we are currently doing in Afghanistan and Iraq. If you are familiar with the antics of Halliburton, Kellogg, Brown & Root and Blackwater overseas you are already halfway home to fully appreciating the satire of Cusack's latest piece. Cusack plays a corporate hit-man named Brand Hauser who finds himself in Turiquistan organizing a trade show in the newly liberated country as his cover while waiting to get access to his latest target. While there he finds himself intrigued by the anti-establishment reporter played by Marisa Tomei and pursued by the over-sexualized pop star played by Hilary Duff. We are introduced to Hauser's past, which includes a tragedy that has haunted him ever since and the corporate assistant named Marsha Dillon who actually is running the entire operation for him (and played hilariously by Joan Cusack). While some moments are played suitably over the top, they aren't always the moments you expect and the little touches often catch you by surprise. All the principals turn in solid performances. Duff's accent comes and goes but otherwise she does a very nice job and goes a long way to dispel her Disney image. Tomei is funny but understated while the Cusack's own nearly every scene they are in. To be fair, they are given good material. The writers turn in a good script with enough twists and turns and visual gags to keep you giggling throughout all the way to the predictable conclusion. In fact, the predictability of the end is the only thing that keeps me from rating it higher as the story twists and turns it's way to the expected conclusion.

If you like your comedy broad and physical, there is probably not enough here to keep you interested the entire movie. On the other hand, if you like sly comedy and broad satire, this is for you.