As the fictional director Lester Siegel, an acidulous has-been who drives a gold Rolls-Royce, Alan Arkin gets some of the best lines it would take too many asterisks to quote the topper, which becomes a running gag and he turns a smallish part into a thriller's antic soul.

WSJ: 'Argo,' on Fake Film, Is Real Sensation | Film Review by Joe Morgenstern