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

Srdjan Dragojevic was initially attached to direct this movie. He did an extensive re-write with his Serbian writing partner Dimitrije Vojnov. When Dragojevic left the project, this draft of the screenplay was scrapped. The only piece that remained is the imaginary Democracy cigarettes brand that had already appeared in Rane (1998).

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Goofs

In the Coffee shop the reporter is sipping her coffee. As the scene changes to show the other side, her cup is on the table. Switching back, she has the cup in her hand again.

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Quotes

Brand Hauser: This little Turaqi pop star. She really disturbs me and I can't figure out why.

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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

Featured in At the Movies: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull/Cleaner/Recount/War, Inc./The Children of Huang Shi (2008)

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Soundtracks

New York, New York
Written by Fred Ebb and John Kander
Published by EMI Unart Catalog Inc (BMI)
Produced and Arranged by Stephen Edwards

User Reviews

Skipping satire through to slapstick

The satire is in the background, but the main quality of War, Inc. is to suppose you are in this particular mood. The problem is: how do you deal with big jokes and serious matters if you're going to skip plain satire? Ay, there's the rub. John Cusack plays a high-flying hit-man with a bit of a conscience ready to surface again after years of sealed-jaws dedication. Then satire in the background creates big comedy situations and then back again to our hero whose background we are told little by little until we can foresee how it will all be brought together.

On the whole it's pretty funny, the acting is great, but you don't feel there's a real big movie, only an independent flick struggling with settings - well, working its guts off to get the most of each set to be honest, pleased with its premise but lacking a real steady stance. As a comedy it would have been much better with the hero as a real cynical guy who happens to have a physical malfunction. As a thriller/actioneer it would need to build a more intricate script.

So it's one of those movies who don't really know their genre, what jokes they are playing against what characterization. And the pathos within once again proves to be a complacent device for writers and producers-actors looking for a bit of ready-to-wear substance.