The American President
The American President
PG-13 | 17 November 1995 (USA)
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Widowed U.S. president Andrew Shepherd, one of the world's most powerful men, can have anything he wants -- and what he covets most is Sydney Ellen Wade, a Washington lobbyist. But Shepherd's attempts at courting her spark wild rumors and decimate his approval ratings.

Reviews
Platicsco

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Limerculer

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Afouotos

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

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Darin

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

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grantss

Andrew Shepherd (played by Michael Douglas) is the President of the United States, and a widower. He is popular and the next election is approaching - his re-election should be a given. Then he meets lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening) and the relationship blossoms. However, he may have to choose between her and the presidency...Good political comedy-drama. Maybe a tad too schmaltzy and trite, yet entertaining nonetheless. Rob Reiner directs Aaron Sorkin's script with his usual light, free-flowing, style. Solid performances from an all-star cast: Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J Fox, Richard Dreyfus. Supporting cast includes David Paymer and Wendie Malick.

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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.

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851222

Greetings from Lithuania."The American President" is a movie making at its best. Key performances are wonderful by both leads. Directing, music is good. And the real star of the film is script. It's so clever, funny and realistic that you can't keep wondering how the writer put all this stuff together. Well, it's Aaron Sorkin - and that's the answer. This film - is a great film. It's not cheese romantic love story. Watch this film, if you love great writing, great performances and good believable romance. "The American President" is a charmer. This film is the second film that i writing review about, which headline contains word "charming", the first was "The Kids are all right". And do you want to know what they have in common? Annette Bening. She is marvelous.

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secondtake

The American President (1995)What a smart, fast, feel-good movie about American politics and the power of the presidency. And how unlikely (these thing don't usually go together).What makes it work? Everything! I know deep down that this isn't a masterpiece, a Citizen Kane or Godfather kind of movie. But it is in its own way perfect. It's funny as can be--endlessly witty or sarcastic or actually cleverly funny. It's acted to a T, including of course the two leads, Michael Douglas in his alpha male with a personable side and Annette Bening in her utterly charming and disarmingly sharp warmth.It's almost impossible to appreciate the huge list of side characters who are first rate through and through, even in their very brief roles. Richard Dreyfuss might be the least of these since he plays an obvious stereotype. Michael J. Fox is funny and quick and Martin Sheen is quasi-presidential as he needs to be since of course (via "West Wing") he later becomes the president.But not here. This is the story of Douglas and Bening. It presages the excellent British version , in its own way, "Love Actually," with Hugh Grant and an equally big cast of excellent extras, but that was more purely feel-good (or feel-incredibly-good) and this one eight years earlier actually has a political axe to grind.In fact, I'm going to guess that one reason for the slightly deflated ratings is the conservative audience didn't really like what the president stands for here, and though it is just a movie, it's easier to root for the cast when they tend to agree with you. And agree in emphatic eloquent ways. There is a speech Douglas (as president) gives toward the end that comes out and boldly takes a simple stand for decent liberal values. He's confident, clear, and unwavering. And if you agree with that kind of thing (I do) you want to say hurrah.And you want our own darned president to say what he believes so simply and with such firmness.Of course, all of this is simplified and made too easy. Luckily it's not only about politics. In fact it's a comedy or manners, you might say, the protocol of who to behave with and near the president being fodder for great laughs just as much as the Victorian plays and movies had fun with the same twists of expectations. No wonder it morphed into a hit television series--though oddly enough the humor gets minimized. Maybe the same kinds of jokes wear themselves out.Rob Reiner is maybe our most astute politically astute director, at least when there is a sense of humor required. He cut his teeth in every way with the best, working with and under Norman Lear in years of shooting (and performing, as "Meathead") in "All in the Family." It shows here. He has a real knack for timing, for turning absurdity to wit, and for warmth. (He probably got some of that from the Smothers Brothers, too.) If you like this don't stop here--Reiner has many other good or possibly great movies, many getting better reviews than this one.But here we have "The American President," deceptively simple in its title. This is above all a really cozy movie. You want to watch, and you want to be there. At least for a couple hours.I sound foolish liking this silly movie too much, but there you have it.

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