Definitely not a win-win: "Stop-Loss"

I vaguely recall this being described as an Iraq war movie that raised some good issues but wasn't a home run. And that's about right. It also continues the amazing trend of making me think Ryan Phillippe isn't so bad after all.

(Dude, the guy sucked in the '90s, even if "Cruel Intentions" was kind of fun. But since then ... "The Way of the Gun," "Crash," "The Flags of Our Fathers" ... not bad at all.)

Our story focuses on a group of guys in the sh*t in The Fertile Crescent. They go through some bad stuff in Iraq, then come home to a heroes' welcome. Yeah, parades and everything. Then comes the drinking and fighting, like good soldiers.

A couple of them, including Lil Ryan, are slated for discharge. Then he gets "stop-lossed" -- a term used when war conditions require you to keep serving. Doesn't seem fair, Phillippe says, especially after the stuff he's seen. Too bad, they say. Well, I'll just go AWOL, he decides. Uh-oh, we think.

Directed by Kimberly "I Will NOT Spell My Last Name Right" Peirce of "Boys Don't Cry" fame, "Stop-Loss" has one less cross-dresser but plenty of melodrama. There's a lot of moping around and PTSD issues and what-cost-war stuff and blather about loyalty. (I'm a veteran, can't you tell?)

But the three main guys aren't bad. Phillippe is a little much at times but earnest enough overall. Tatum matches him as his buddy who just might not be able to handle being out of the service. Gordon-Levitt is the haunted one who can't get over losing his friend in battle. None of these guys falls short.

Most impressive, though, was a woman: Abbie Cornish, who plays Tatum's fiancee. She totally nailed the girl back home thing and kept it real throughout. Attractive but not too thin or well-scrubbed, Cornish came across as the most real person in the movie.

Then I found out she was Australian. Wow. What is it with these women? Kidman could never totally bury her accent, but Watts has done all right. And now comes Cornish, who I could have sworn was a Texan. Well played, good lady ... well played.