Razzle Dazzle: SYRIANA

I’m on the fence with this one. The movie obviously wants to be held in the same esteem as TRAFFIC and THE INSIDER, but the story is hard to pin down in 2 1/2 minutes. Unlike those great films, the emphasis is more on the politics than on the people, which could make for a muddled and uninteresting narrative. And they’re very unclear about Clooney’s character. In the beginning he's a cool rogue terrorist, but in the back half he’s a sympathetic family man. Love the beard on him as well as Tim Blake Nelson’s rant about why corruption is good. Bonus points for the Moby music in the middle and the music during the cast roll call.
THE MOMENT THAT STOLE MY MONEY: Jeffrey Wright, who’s always interesting to watch
RATING: 6 out of 10