With Nichols at the helm, a script by Sorkin, and heavy-hitter actors like Roberts and Seymour-Hoffman speaking the lines, Charlie Wilson's War has all the ingredients for the film of the year.

But perhaps because these ingredients set such a high bar of expectation - or possibly because even Aaron Sorkin isn't on fire *every* time he sits down at his computer - this one was missing something.

Like so many other films this holiday season, it unravels in the third act. In this instance, a story becomes a music video, and the most interesting character (Seymour-Hoffman's charmingly-blunt Gust, which has Best Supporting Actor wrapped up with a bow on it) falls to the wayside.