Ben Affleck directs himself, John Goodman and Alan Arkin in this Best Picture winning movie where a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation posing as a sci-fi movie producer to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran.

Many Oscar years the best film nominated doesn’t win but the most solidly made, least offensively spirited does. It doesn’t hurt if the trophied flick paints Hollywood as the protector of western values and freedom. This delivers above average drama and above average peril for a steady two hours. There’s some Sorkin-esque dialogue and Lumet lifted storytelling. But the lark is with Goodman and Arkin’s gregarious La La Land hustlers and Affleck struggles to keep them in play after the second act. We’ll always have “Argo fuck yourself.”

7

Perfect Double Bill: The Town (2010)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin