Josh Brolin, left, as George W. Bush and Toby Jones as Karl Rove in W.
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We don't say Dubya's unexamined life--his pursuit of devastation policies with such messianic self-assurance--is not worth filming. Yes, the tragic hero usually comes to realize his crippling flaws, but maybe the greatest sin of a powerful man is in never, ever doubting himself. W. gives Bush a climactic wrinkle of copelessness, but the movie is mostly content to motor on familiar tracks. Like its central character, it seems never to have questioned itself about its mission or even asked if it had one. For this normally crazy-brilliant auteur, the last and lasting W. has to be Why?