John Cusack’s dark political satire is funny, though a bit of a one joke film. Still being a hardcore progressive who hates the Bush administration and the horrible war they have gotten us into, and outsourcing this war. Enjoyable and funny, with a great cast, and it is always good to see Cusack using his kick boxing skills, though this does seem like a not as good version of Gross Point blank (or at least Cusack’s character). Fun, though not too amazing.

John CUsack stars as Brand Hauser an ex-CIA agent and hit man, now working for the Tamerlane corporation (Haliburton) working for the former and formerly disgraced Vice President (Dan Akyroyd), but so out of it, he is now taking shots of the hottest hot sauce in the world without crying just to give himself some focus. After an initial hit of some Germans, Hauser is sent to Turaqistan, the first war completely outsourced to Tamerlane. Cusack is there to kill the head of the Turaqistan government, and his cover is running a trade show, which will culminate in the wedding of a slutty Central Asian Superstar named Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff). Hauser is being assisted by a Marsha Dillon (Joan Cusack). He also quickly meets a Progressive journalist named Natalie Hegalhuzen (Marisa Romei) who is trying to expose the war, which has advertisements on every corner, and every tank and humvee, and has Hauser handing out gift bags to ever Turaqi he meets. Hauser of course likes Natalie right away, though she just wants to use him to get out of the green zone, and see what is really going on.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

It turns out that Natalie’s main contact is in fact the head of the government who Hauser has been sent to kill.

And his growing relationship with her, as well as his fending off the advances of Yonica, are causing him some real headaches, and also causing some bad memories to come back, specifically with his old CIA operator Walken (Ben Kingsley) who he killed after trying to get out, but after having his wife killed and his child taken, he had no life to go back to, and just takes more and more hot sauce to be alive.

Yonica ends up showing another side, a sweet girl, who wants to be a real singer, and not a hoochie mama and hates her gangster fiancee, who was going to sell a porn tape of their wedding night. And he wants her to get free.

Eventually Hauser helps Natalie to get out of town, but she is kidnapped, and is going to be killed, so Hauser has to go out and save her, and sends her back to the wedding, while he goes to confront his hidden boss, who of course turns out to be a now wheelchair bound Walken, and he also learns that in fact Yonica is his missing daughter, and that is why he got sick seeing her act a hoochie mama.

Hauser manages to get to Yonica, and stop the wedding, and fight off the Tamerlane troops, who rush Walken back to his bunker, as he calls in on air strike on the next door at the wedding, but the precision missile ends up hitting the bunker and killing Walken.

Hauser then steals the wedding plane, and leaves with Natalie and Yonica, as they argue about where to go.

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Silly, and cost way too much,e specially to be the huge bomb that it was. Still I like the sentiment.