As we are about to attack another country under the guise of protecting human rights, this HBO movie hits the spot. Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, two fake progressives, shape the world according to their interests and political advantages. Tony Blair, as portrayed in this flick, is a naive, almost comical in his ineptitude, character. After all the unfulfilled promises and outright lies it is not surprising how unpopular he became in Great Britain. Blindly following both American presidents, but all this time building his own legacy. And he built it all right. When he left the office his approval rating was embarrassingly low. After the horrendous war campaign waged on Serbia in 1999 ( based on intentionally inflated numbers of victims, that were never found), and attack on Iraq( based on non-existing WMD), Mr. Blair is lucky that he didn't end up on trial for war crimes himself. God help us all with leaders like these people.

The movie starts with Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) coming over to America to learn from their experiences and try to reinvigorate the Labour Party. He develops a close relationship with Bill Clinton (Dennis Quaid). Then the relationships get more complex, and the movie ends with a press briefing from the real George W and Blair.

The movie is looking at this mostly from the point of view of Tony Blair. He starts off as an almost giddy schoolboy in awe of the great Bill Clinton. Michael Sheen is the best thing in this movie. He is probably the best person for the role. His superior acting skills is on full display. Dennis Quaid is not as good. He comes off as mimicking the president. Hope Davis is quite effective as Hillary. It's a pretty good recitation of the Clinton-Blair years concentrating on Northern Ireland, Lewinsky, and Kosovo from a 90 minutes HBO TV movie.

British actor Michael Sheen portrays real-life figures with an eerie degree of precision. In 2008 he took on the tricky part of down-and-out journo David Frost in Frost/Nixon and absolutely nailed it. Then last year he delivered a remarkable performance as hubristic English soccer coach Brian Clough in the lesser seen drama The Damned United. Now in his the third time depicting the former U.K. PM (first in telemovie The Deal, then in the Helen Mirren-starring The Queen) he mimics Blair's mannerisms, vocal tones and overall personality so perfectly that Blair himself couldn't play the role as well.

As the title would suggest though, this drama follows a relationship, which requires a second party. Step in Dennis Quaid as Bill Clinton. He doesn't convince on the same level as Sheen – Clinton's highly distinguishable accent evades Quaid to begin with – but it's not long before the seasoned actor gets in a groove and solidly embodies the beguiling American. Helen McCrory and Hope Davis don't have any difficulty managing their supporting characters, the former as Cherie Blair and the latter as Hillary Clinton. Davis especially is pitch perfect as the intriguing and somewhat imperious U.S. first lady.

Although, predictably, the movie lives and dies by its performances, the screenplay is clever enough to display these people in events that will allow us to connect with them. In the opening act we see how these two world leaders – Clinton the suavely aggressive big brother, Blair the amenable and awestruck little brother – became friends, then we move on to how they dealt with this 'special relationship' during good times and bad. It's a tremendous friendship to witness, how they and their wives react to certain situations, the Lewinsky humiliation of particular note, indicates what we have probably suspected all along: they are, despite their global status and positions of power, human after all.

An insightful drama that invites you into the lives of some very fascinating people.

4 out of 5 (1 - Rubbish, 2 - Ordinary, 3 - Good, 4 - Excellent, 5 - Classic)