SILVER CITY

[] (Three stars)

Juicy political satire. Running time: 129 minutes. Rated R (language). At the Lincoln Square, the E-Walk, others.

INDIE auteur John Sayles has bitten off a lot with his sprawling political satire “Silver City.”

Fortunately, the provocative writer-director (“Sunshine State,” “City of Hope”) has brought in a hungry cast to help him chew over the issues in this, the first fictional Bush-whacking film following an avalanche of pre-election documentaries.

Oscar-winner Chris Cooper (“Adaptation”) does a pitch-perfect imitation of Dubya’s drawling inflections and mangled syntax as the scion of a corrupt political dynasty who is merely a puppet for his senator father’s corporate cronies, led by developer Wes Benteen (Kris Kristofferson).

The affable Dickie Pilager – known to his fraternity as “dim Dickie” – is running for governor of Colorado with the help of pit-bull campaign manager Chuck Raven (Richard Dreyfuss, who gets to gorge on the juiciest lines).

Dickie – a born-again Christian with DWI issues in his past, who is variously described as “user-friendly,” “a draft-dodger” and “a mama’s boy” – rambles incoherently, and hilariously, whenever he’s off script.

But the gubernatorial candidate’s amusing malapropisms are often positioned as mere background noise to a “Chinatown”-esque detective chase and a reheated love affair.

Danny Huston – the son of director John Huston, who played the villain in “Chinatown” – does an excellent job as the rumpled Danny, a reporter turned private eye who’s called in to investigate when Dickie fishes a corpse out of a lake while filming an ad pushing his environmental policies.

As Danny follows the breadcrumbs, he unravels a far-reaching web of corruption – and re-engages with his old flame, political reporter Nora (Maria Bello), who’s engaged to a slimy lobbyist (Billy Zane).

Sayles’ unabashedly partisan film moseys along in an unhurried fashion, encompassing myriad story lines yet taking the trouble to fully develop each of its many characters.

A wickedly sexy Daryl Hannah is particularly memorable as the Pilager family’s black sheep Maddy, a pot-smoking Olympic hopeful who spends her days practicing archery and scheming to embarrass her brother.