The American President

Rating:
Summary: Micheal Douglas makes you want to love America.
Review: This movie covers a different view of a President. In one moment you feel for him and in another you hate what he does. It gives you a look at how the life of the President, private and personal are always looked at. I really recomend this movie to any one who has ever thought of being the President.

Rating:
Summary: A FANTASTIC Romantic comedy!!!
Review: This is a great movie. It has romance without getting too deep, it has comedy without being farcical , and it leaves you feeling good afterward. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: ALL GLORY TO THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY!!!!!
Review: TAKE THAT YOU BABY EATING REPUBLICANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SAME GOES TO YOU THIRD PARTY MEMBERS, ESPECIALLY YOU NUTTY, COMMUNIST LIBERATARIANS AND 'INDEPENDENT' VOTERS, MOST OF WHOM MOST LIKELY EAT BABIES AS WELL!!!!!!!! HURRAY FOR ENVIRONMENTALISM!!!!!!!!! HURRAY FOR HUGE GOVERNMENT!!!!!!!!! HURRAY FOR HIGH TAXES!!!!!!! HURRAY FOR THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Just Average...
Review: I found this film to be just average. The story is nice, but a little unbelievable and very predictable. These films are usually my type, but for some reason, this one didn't do anything for me.

Rating:
Summary: I've seen worse
Review: When I saw this movie for the first time, I enjoyed some parts for great acting and writing and winsome characters. However, as for its politics, the film's mischaracterizations, political straw men, distortions and outright lies left me extremely frustrated. One small example: the ACLU is not "an organization dedicated to defending the Bill of Rights" as President Shephard claims at the end of the movie. When was the last time the ACLU came out to defend the second amendment, or the ninth, or tenth?

Some people say that you have to separate this film's politics from the romantic comedy aspect. Why? Aaron Sorkin clearly intended it to be a political tract, allbeit gift wrapped and tied with a bow; he clearly didn't intend for it just to be another romantic comedy about, oh, two competing shopkeepers on the Upper West Side. He had a point to make, he made it, and his film should be taken as such.

I've heard that TAP became the blue print for the West Wing, which makes sense. It doesn't take a shroom trip to make the connection between the two. What can you say about TAP as opposed to WW? Well, the lighting's better. The tone is lighter. The president is portrayed by less of a freak. I think.

I know conservatives who badmouth TAP, based on its obvious pro-liberal slant and shilling for Clinton, who was president at the time (of course, Clinton was married, while the fictitious Shephard was a widower, but liberals never let marital status stand in the way of romance). There's something to be said for that angle, but in retrospect I think that conservatives should be more generous to the film. Particularly as it relates to gun control, this movie and countless TV shows helped ossify the liberal thinking about guns, which more than any other factor lost West Virginia for Gore in 2000, which... well, you remember.


Rating:
Summary: Smart witty banter trumps stale comedy and Bush's minions
Review: The American President is a wonderfully enjoyable film that conducts itself with style, verve and the grace of assured comedic narrative. Michael Douglas is commanding and presidential and Annette Bening is smart and charming. And the placement of the unavoidably naive and adolescent ploddings of romance against the stark and rigid world of politics is extremely amusing. However. . .

In the words of Dorothy Parker, many of the other reviews on this site for The American President should not be taken lightly -- they should be thrown away with great force.

Despite the fire and brimstone preachings of high school students and the other provincial minions that you might read here, maybe you should just see this movie and decide for yourself.

The essential problem is that all of these reviews apparently are igorant of the draught of intelligent comedies that plagues the American film industry. Here we have an intelligent comedy with smart characters and -- god forbid -- witty banter.

Is it idealistic? Yes. Is it politically slanted? Yes. Will anyone who watches it run the risk of being brainwashed? Not unless they have the resilience of a bowl of pudding. For anyone who is petrified of Superbowl halftime shows and SpongeBob Squarepants, maybe you shouldn't venture into such adult territory. (Mind you that the only poorly enforced stipulation of this site to post reviews is to click on a box to ensure that you are, in fact, over the age of 13.) No one single film is going to be able to satisfy a large -- and divided -- audience merely on the terms of political rigamarole. As one reviewer said in a more limited and political fashion, maybe we should judge the human story here and not the political one: A man who conducts himself with dignity and strength, who is looking to find love and happiness amid the societal mess of conflicts of interest and judgement.

If you can think for yourself and you would like an alternative to movies glutted with scatalogical humor, junevile sexual antics and cartoon sensibilities, then watch this film. For anyone who enjoys The West Wing, Sports Night or comedies that involve thought and the love of language and repartee, you'll find an enjoyable couple of hours with this movie.

And the other reviewers on this site should perhaps look beyond the limits of their political agendas, which have obviously tainted their opinions of this film. I'm sure your energies would be much better spent on attacking SpongBob.

Rating:
Summary: Politics just totally wrecked the movie for me...
Review: My mother and I have a certain few chick flicks that, no matter what, whenever on is on TV we will stop and watch it. The American President was one of them. I must have seen it twenty times. We loved it, and I considered it a truly great movie.

... then I grew up. We watched it in my government class because our teacher was sick, and I noticed with horror... that this guy, the man we're supposed to be rooting for, is a Democrat! He defends ACLU, he is for "gun control," he cavorts around with environmental lobbyists! How can I root for someone who stands against all of my core beliefs? Then, not only that, the guy who shares MY beliefs, the Republican, is totally demonized. He is old and stodgy and Michael Douglas constantly makes fun of him. Which, I guess looking back, is the good ol' liberal way of handling people who know what they're talking about.

And THEN there's the romance. Now, okay, widower President dating is one thing. But President putting off going to stop an airline strike to go buy flowers for his girlfriend? President not doing ANYTHING to assure the public that their relationship would not affect anything he did? President NEVER giving ANY addresses whatsoever, not even when freaking bombing Libya? And not only this, but the girl he is seeing is a LOBBYIST (environmental too, BLECH). Whenever his cabinet members were discussing important matters, all he would ask is things like "Do you think she likes me?" He was more concerned with this hot redhead than matters of state. Mr. President, what you do behind closed doors is your own business, but when you let it get you distracted when you are the leader of our FREAKING COUNTRY it gets a little out of hand. Oh, and this girl burned the flag once. Y'know, the American flag. And Mr. Democrat President DEFENDS her. We're supposed to sympathize with them. I can't. I tried, but I can't. We're supposed to be like "OMG THOSE EVIL REPUBLICANS! Yeah, why AREN'T you a member of the ACLU? And why WON'T you support this ban on fossil fuels? And WHY are you arming our druglords with your evil second amendment! FOR SHAME!" I don't know about you guys, but I just.. can't.

I'll miss this movie, I really will. But maybe they should have tried less to force leftist ideals down my throat, and tried harder to win me over to the love story. And maybe made the President seem a little more than a lovesick teenager. Like when he asks his Sec of State who talked with Sydney on the phone: "Did she say anything about me?" And, exasperated, he says "No, but I'll ask her before study hall!" That sums up my feelings pretty well.

Good thing we didn't get to the ending where I'd have to hear his little self-righteous speech. I probably would have thrown up.



Rating:
Summary: The Liberal American Dictator
Review: Why can't Hollywood make a more accurate depiction of reality?

The president depicted in this movie sounds like the candidate the Democrats could only wish for? Liberalism plagues this movie from top to bottom. The president's love interest is an environmental lobbyist who is trying to slow down our economy by imposing a 20% reduction in fossil fuels. The president opposes any changes in the educational laws, suggesting that tampering with educational experiments would be turning our back on public education. (Well, I suppose public education has to win at the expense of school children!

The president does not support the 20% reduction -- not because it's bad for the economy -- but rather, because it's unpopular! Well. Then there's the Michael J. Fox character, who is an assistant to the president. He and many others in the movie suggest that if we only banned hand guns, the streets in LA would be safe. Good grief. I suggest reading More Guns, Less Crime, by John Lott.

The romance in the movie was superficial, but that is what one would expect from liberals. After all, they are not too concerned with learning about others, but rather through learning to govern and control them.

Rating:
Summary: heavy handed political portrayals
Review: Heavy handed political portrayals ruin what would have otherwise been a passable romantic comedy. The impression is that the film is a not so subtle message movie, disguised as entertainment. The evil Republicans versus the stalwart and always in the right Democrats, it borders on comic book characterization. And the holier than thou tone at the end of the movie, in which Michael Douglas makes a very childish speech, (supposedly as an American President speaking to the public)was downright irritating. He wouldn't get my vote.

Rating:
Summary: Not a bad movie if you can overlook the politics
Review: There are some good lines in this movie and the acting is better than most. Unfortunately, the liberal slant of this movie tends to pull it down several notches.

I think Michael Douglas did a good job in his role as the President. The writers went a bit overboard with their portrayal of the "evil" Republican (Richard Dreyfuss).

Overall, it's a good drama/comedy. The speech that Michael Douglas makes at the end is a classic leftie diatribe...the other guys are all about symbolism, but I'm going to really do something about crime by getting assault weapons and hanguns off the street. What a bunch of hogwash.