AMERICAN MADE *

"American Made" is an enjoyable satirical comedy supposedly based on fact, (well, they do say truth is stranger than fiction). It's the story of how Barry Seal, (Tom Cruise, very good, if a little miscast, in that smug, son-of-a-bitch way of his), went from being a TWA pilot to a drug-smuggling, gun-running, people-smuggling CIA operative at the heart of what came to be known as the Iran-Contra affair. As directed by Doug Liman this is a broad farce shot, by Cesar Charlone, in bright colour bordering on the psychedelic and it moves at the speed of light. There's actually a little too much plot going on here. Did things really happen this fast and all at once? The film could be described as a distant cousin of both "Goodfellas" and "The Wolf of Wall Street", (and DiCapprio would have made a better Seal than Cruise does), but they are the much better films. When this movie gets serious the gear change is a little too sudden. It's certainly a fun film but it really ought to have been so much more.