TxMike What makes any movie someone's favorite? That isn't easy to define, and if I listed all my "favorites" it would make many scratch their heads because they are so varied. But this is one of my wife's favorites so we watched it yet again on this cold, rainy winter night the day after new year 2016. On DVD at home.Michael Douglas, about 50, is President Andrew Shepherd, going into the final year of his first term. He had become a widower shortly before the last election and he occupies the White House with his young teen daughter. he has a high approval rating, somewhere around 63% and is planning on pushing two pieces of legislation, one for gun-control and the other to reduce CO2 emissions to help arrest global warming.As a side note, here it is over 20 years later in the real world and the President is actually fighting for those same two issues, still meeting resistance from the manufacturing lobby and the gun lobby. Things don't change, do they?Anyway Annette Bening, in her mid-30s, is attractive and competent lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade, working to help push through the environmental bill. When she first shows up at the White House for a meeting is thrown for a loop when the President, right after she is caught harshly criticizing him in the meeting, and he asks her to have lunch. Or something, Then she gets invited to be his date for a State Dinner honoring the French President.So the movie is about the President courting this smart and attractive lady while he and she work to get legislation passed. And at the same time dealing with insults and misinformation by Rumford, planning to run against the President.Martin Sheen has a good role as the Chief of Staff and Michael J. Fox, in his early 30s, as the speech writer. Good, fun movie. I like it also!

luke-a-mcgowan The American President is Aaron Sorkin's fairy tale – and that isn't a good thing. Reports say that Robert Redford, who proposed the idea, fell out with director Rob Reiner after Reiner wanted to make Sorkin's script focus on politics instead of romance. Well if that's true, Reiner should have buffed up Sorkin's script a little more. This was the least convincing political movie I've ever seen. It focuses on President Michael Douglas and his romance with lobbyist Annette Bening. These two are thrown together so quickly and Sorkin hopes like mad that you forget that they've only met once or twice. While the idea of a dating President is intriguing enough for a movie, the execution was poor here, mostly because despite Reiner's focus on politics, the romance always wins in the eyes of the characters. In one charming yet excruciating scene, Douglas tells his advisors (who probably have urgent information) to wait while he orders flowers. Throughout the movie, his complete lack of political savvy at realising that his romance is not just his business had me almost screaming for impeachment. Bening is no better – we are told she is one of the highest paid lobbyists in Washington, but she spends almost all of her screen time flirting with the President and creating an enormous conflict of interest. Just because Sorkin's script acknowledges is does not make it okay. The only evidence we see of her skill are one-sided conversations with Congressmen that end on her terms with her desired outcome. Without any hurdles to her objective, we just have to take Sorkin's word for it that she's good. Its not all bad – Reiner's direction and Sorkin's script are both passable, creating moments that can be both dramatic and charming. A bantering phone conversation between Douglas and an unsuspecting Bening is irresistible. There are at least two very evocative monologues delivered during the film, as to be expected by Sorkin. The light and soaring musical score is used perfectly to create reverence for Oval Office and White House in general.Douglas is charming but I never bought him as a President, especially when placed next to the irreplaceable Martin Sheen (who would go on to play a far superior President Bartlett in the West Wing) as his Chief of Staff A. J. MacInernay (say that awful name five times fast). Michael J. Fox is excellent and delivers an exceptional performance when having a showdown with the President later in the film. An absolutely charming Bening is probably the film's highlight. My biggest problem with the American President is the completely biased portrayal of Republicans led by Richard Dreyfuss. Sorkin has never pretended to be tolerant of right wing opinion, but this sinks to a new low. The group sits around like a bunch of one-percenters, cigars and scotch in hand and gleefully rub their hands together like they're planning to kidnap Princess Peach. The group run rampant with nothing but negativity (as Sorkin perceives they do in real life) and then slink off defeated as soon as Douglas puts them in their place. It makes for a rather pathetic set of antagonists, and is certainly not a very fair depiction either.Whilst I'm convinced that this version is far better than the Redford version we might have seen, the soppy and rushed romance winning over political story made The American President a far less enjoyable experience than I had hoped.

Desertman84 The American President is a romantic comedy that stars Michael Douglas and Annette Bening.It tells the romance that involves a widower US President named Andrew Shepherd and an environmental lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade,who just transfered to Washington D.C. to take care of the passage of a crime control bill.The screenplay was written by one of the finest scribe in Aaron Sorkin and it was directed by ace director Rob Reiner.The movie was theatrically released in 1995 and it was apparent that Aaron Sorkin is warming up with the writing of this screenplay of the TV series, The West Wing. Despite being clichéd and predictable as well as it presents dated political issues,it was charming and heart- warming romantic comedy due to the performances of Douglas and Bening. There was also a lot of funny and memorable lines that will be a delight to the viewer especially fans of this genre.Overall,it is still worth watching at present.

callanvass I enjoyed this film. It's pleasant and often very smart. I'm not American, I'm Canadian. Maybe I don't have the right to speak out about Presidents. I just know what I like. Everyone has a different opinion, but I haven't cared for any of the presidents since I've been alive, and I'm 28 years old. Politics bore me to begin with, but this movie is so likable, I couldn't help but enjoy myself. Michael Douglas is one of my favorite actors, and he's rarely been more charming. This is a president I pine for. One that is sharp, witty, caring, genuine, and human. He's not perfect, and he's not ashamed to be human. He actually cares about what the public wants. I get awfully tired of presidents giving people what they want to hear, and not follow up on it. Andrew Shephard (Douglas) will make people pine for a president as good as he is. Douglas was excellent. Annette Bening makes for a solid love interest. Her chemistry with Douglas was great as well. I do have a minor complaint, and that's how the opposing candidate (Richard Dreyfuss) is written. He is shoddily thrown in, without much background or development that is needed. He suddenly shows up to do undermining tactics towards Douglas, and it wasn't enough for me. Maybe I'm being too fickle on this, but it fell flat for me. I will say it's nice to see clichés evaded for once, when it comes to a daughter meeting a love interest of their Father's. I get so tired of the "Screw you, I want my Mom" attitude that they do in movies with daughters, so it was refreshing to see a scenario where the daughter accepts the love interest. I give all the credit to Shawn Waldron for being such a likable daughter to Douglas. Martin Sheen is great as Douglas's right hand man, and Michael J. Fox is solid as support. I loved Michael Douglas's monologue at the end as well. Final Thoughts: Watch this movie whenever you get depressed with the current president. It'll make you wish for a lot of things, but you'll also feel happy and entertained by it. It's a good movie. 7.5/10