Character	Actor
Tony Mendez	Ben Affleck
John Chambers	John Goodman
Lester Siegel	Alan Arkin
Jack O’Donnell	Bryan Cranston
Hamilton Jordan	Kyle Chandler
Directed by Ben Affleck. Runtime of 120 Minutes

Argo: 3.5 stars (out of Four)

Though Ben Affleck’s first two directorial efforts, “Gone Baby Gone” and “The Town,” were terrific, “Argo” takes even another step into the stratosphere, as Affleck adroitly balances the delicate tonal shifts between funny, Hollywood satire and the dire situation in Iran.

When an infuriated mob storms the U.S. Embassy and takes Americans hostage in November 1979, six Americans escape and take refuge in the Canadian Ambassador’s residence, and CIA operative Tony Mendez must rescue the six before the Iranians realize they’re missing. After the CIA and State Department consider a plethora of hopeless options, Mendez decides to extricate the six hostages by using a movie shoot as cover.

Of course, this cockamamie scheme strains credulity and would sink the movie--except it did actually happen. Truth is more incredible than fiction yet again.

In order to sell the movie’s authenticity to the Iranians, Mendez enlists make-up artist John Chambers (John Goodman), who won an Oscar for his work on “Planet of the Apes,” and Hollywood producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin).

This movie is especially timely, considering the current unrest in the Middle East. Scenes in “Argo” depicting Iranians spewing anti-American sentiments ring true, because anyone watching cable news right now often sees the same thing from citizens in numerous countries throughout the Middle East. As the hostage crisis drags on, “Argo” also shows footage of U.S. outrage against Iranians, which echoes the current state of America—where half the country is anti-immigration and some are borderline xenophobic.

Arkin and Goodman provide most of the movie’s comic relief, which Affleck effectively juxtaposes with the grave circumstances in Iran. Goodman slides perfectly into the part, like a grandfather settling into his favorite recliner. Arkin’s profane, grouchy geriatric recalls his highly similar, Oscar-winning portrayal of an X-rated grandfather in “Little Miss Sunshine”--mixed with echoes of Dustin Hoffman’s egomaniacal and cynical Hollywood producer in Barry Levinson’s brilliant political satire “Wag the Dog.”

Victor Garber, as Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor, and “Breaking Bad’s” Bryan Cranston, as Affleck’s CIA boss Jack O’Donnell, also provide steady, authoritative performances.

That Affleck, in only his third directorial effort, can deftly switch from archived news footage back to the actual film—and from comedy to Iran’s edgy, death-could-be-behind-any-corner tension—is an amazing achievement.

Late in the film, Arkin and Goodman butcher the famous Karl Marx quote, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce”--and it’s an apropos quotation. The 1979 Iranian Revolution, and the hostage situation at the embassy, was a tragedy. The fact that 33 years later, the U.S. has again made itself the object of virulent hatred throughout the Middle East—obviously, no lessons learned—can only be farce.