Argo. “The movie was fake. The mission was real.” And the acting was terrible! It may have won Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing, but it’s definitely been a while since I’ve seen a movie as bad as Argo.

The movie stars Ben Affleck – with my 8th grade haircut – Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, and John Goodman. All normally brilliant actors unfortunately involved in an amateur film. Argo is a detailed account of the successful attempt made by the CIA to rescue six Americans who escaped the American embassy during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. While the idea was worthy, the result makes me ashamed to say I used to be a fan of Affleck. He took a boring true story and made it even more boring. His talents are wasted in exchange for a movie full of historical inaccuracies. Yeah I said it; this is a movie full of lies… And it’s still boring!

I could blab for hours about the inaccuracies and downright lies Affleck inserted into his film but I’ll elaborate on only the obvious ones. First off, the dilapidated Hollywood sign flashed in the movie was repaired in 1978, one entire year prior to the events depicted in the film. Yeah it looks cool, but come on Affleck, everybody knows you’re lying through your teeth. Secondly, the Canadians had a much bigger role in the planning and rescue than Affleck gave them credit. In fact, most of the credit belongs to the Canadians. After all, the Canadian ambassador did let them live with him for months and orchestrated much of the escape plans depicted as the handy work of the CIA in this film. Thirdly, the group of hostages were never in immediate danger as depicted several times in the movie. Lastly, Tony Mendez (the real life character Ben Affleck was playing) was Mexican. Ben Affleck is about as white as they come. He was selfish enough to cast himself as the lead role even when he could have found somebody that would have fit the profile better, and perhaps improved on the acting.

Overall, I hated it. The acting, the story, the climax… Oh yeah, the climax! The entire movie builds up to the airport scene, which is all of 5 minutes, and the hostages don’t even come close to being captured! If you want to see a boring movie about a true story so entangled in lies and embellishments, then please, be my guest. As for me, I’ll stick to Downton Abbey.