W.

Fabulous performances do not equal a fabulous film.

Josh Brolin, Richard Dreyfuss, Thandie Newton, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, Scott Glenn and others all turn in riveting portrayals.

And yet the movie is choppy, unsatisfying.

The portrait presented of arguably the worst US president ever is surprisingly sympathetic, if portraying the president of the US as an incompetent buffoon constantly striving for his father's approval is sympathy.

Or if laying bare on the screen just how misled by his advisors the commander in chief was is sympathy.

We were left pondering exactly what message Oliver Stone could have possibly been trying to impart to the audience through the cryptic end of his opus.