Watching this litany of murder and debauchery in the gilded splendor of Saddam's Baghdad, in which Dominic Cooper plays both Saddam's psycho son Uday and the Iraqi good guy Latif, who was forced to serve as his double, I thought: this is like Scarface, but with a difference. Like De Palma's film, it tells the story of a maniac whose innocent understudy falls in love with a forbidden woman (Scarface's sister; Uday's mistress). And in both there are lots of guns, coke, boobs, and fat guys with moustaches. But Cooper, who combines the worst traits of Tom Cruise and Russell Brand, is no Pacino. Also, unlike Scarface, this creep does nothing to earn his depravity; he didn't fight for it, nor does he provide any needed service. He is the Paris Hilton of maniacal dictator's sons, and this account has the depth of an ET profile. Long ago director Lee Tamahori made the brilliant debut Once Were Warriors. Could this guy be his double?
