The American President

Douglas is a great actor He can play a cop, banker, and now President The cast is really great and they "jelled". I particularly liked Michael J. Fox's performance. Michael Douglas seems very natural as the President, the sign of a great actor (and excellent casting). He plays a widower who begins to date a woman (Annette Bening) while he is the President. The story has a lot of humor as the press grabs the story and all of a sudden, the "romance" becomes front-page news. The story moves along nicely and has no trouble keeping your interest. It's such a fun film that I was sorry to see it end. Look for a good performance from Richard Dreyfuss as Senator Bob Rumsen.

Even with Rob Reiner's name attached, "The American President" is an Aaron Sorkin movie; I don't mean just his superb dialogue, but it seems fair to say that it feels like "The West Wing" as a romantic comedy (i.e. right up my alley). The president's painted as an actual person, while still paying deference to the office. As political as this is, it's still a patriotic movie. The music swells at just the right moments, the ideas espoused have resonance, and you just get sucked into it. I'll be honest, with Martin Sheen in the cast, they could've gotten anyone to play the commander-in-chief and I'd still be a fan. But as Hollywood presidents go, Michael Douglas is a great one. 7/10

Amiable Rob Reiner comedy that stars Michael Douglas giving an appealing performance as a fairy tale president who's just the kind of person you always wish a U.S. president could be but who never is. Annette Bening plays his love interest, a spunky activist who finds herself cowed by the (chief) executive treatment. Bening is utterly charming and winning, proving that she has what it takes to be a modern-day Barbara Stanwyck or Jean Arthur. The cast also includes Martin Sheen and Michael J. Fox, and the Academy-Award nominated score has been co-opted as the generic background music that plays during movie trailers -- the minute you hear it, you'll realize that you've already heard it a hundred times and think, "THAT's where that music is from." Grade: B

Complete waste of film - how can I get that 2 hours of my life back??? This film was just terrible. It wasn't realistic, it was incredibly left-wing liberal, and to top it off, it was boring. Michael Douglas does so much better in a drama or thriller role. This movie magnifies the fact he should leave romantic movies to the Richard Gere's of the world...