Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Charlie Wilson's War."

Mike Nichols' "Charlie Wilson's War," like the book by George Crile, peels back the pleasant, ordered veneer of history to discover a colorful -- that's the polite term -- character standing at the crossroads of history.

Charlie Wilson was a swaggering, hard-drinking, partying congressman from Texas who, upon being selected for the House Ethics Committee, remarked that he was seen as being on the opposite side of that issue.

One observer notes that his only accomplishment after six terms in office was being re-elected five times. While in office, he was investigated for cocaine use and being the driver in a hit-and-run accident.

And yet Wilson, an admitted scoundrel, stood during the 1980s at the very center of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Acting covertly with the CIA and a few select politicians -- so covertly that he remained virtually anonymous -- Wilson funneled billions of dollars to the mujahedeen fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, getting them the high-tech weapons they needed to fend off the Soviet juggernaut. The communists' defeat there contributed to their empire's downfall.

Frankly flamboyant

When we meet Wilson, he's sitting in a hot tub in a Las Vegas suite with naked strippers and a sleazy Hollywood producer. Wilson, played by Tom Hanks with an avuncular, naughty charm, makes no apologies for his lifestyle or his lazy, pickled cynicism. But Wilson has the heart of a patriot, and shows a spark of political genius.

Inspired by a newscast about the oppressed Afghans, Wilson joins forces with wealthy Texas socialite Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), who's made the plight of the mujahedeen her pet cause.

Their relationship is built on having sex and fighting Russians, and Roberts sparkles as the brazen rich woman who sees no conflict between her self-proclaimed Christian values and the favors of the flesh she doles out.

The film really hits its stride with the arrival of Gust Avrakotos, a street-smart, world-weary CIA agent who's alienated his bosses, and would like nothing better than a chance to take the fight to the Russians. Philip Seymour Hoffman embodies the character's pushy, no-spin attitude. In Avrakotos, Wilson finds his can-do fixer with an ace up the sleeve.

Director Nichols and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin ("The West Wing") lead us through a maze of back-room politics and cowboy diplomacy, as Wilson trades votes to get cash for his little war and travels the globe, wooing foreign leaders.

Nothing but chutzpah

When one such official asks what authority he has to make such deals, Wilson blankly responds, "None whatsoever."

Nichols' coup is to treat the material not as serious drama, but high comedy -- with Charlie Wilson as the clown prince of international wheeler-dealing. The idea that a boozing politician and CIA dead-ender would lead the fight against communism is absurd, and the filmmakers milk it for all it's worth, helped by the great timing between Hanks and Hoffman.

Wilson and Herring's relationship is not as well fleshed-out, and a scene late in the movie, in which he calls her in tears, feels out of place.

Nichols and Sorkin also get a little too greedy when, after the war is won, they try to position Wilson as the lonely voice calling for Afghanistan to be rebuilt.

It wasn't, and that allowed the Taliban to take over, and we all know what happened next.

Wilson, among the unlikeliest of heroes, couldn't see into the future. Would that he could have.