AMERICAN PRESIDENT, THE

(November 1995, U.S.)

There are several interesting things to note about THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT. The first that comes to mind is that, in my opinion, it's the last great film from director Rob Reiner which began in 1984 with THIS IS SPINAL TAP and continued with a string of hits that included WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (1989) and A FEW GOOD MEN (1992). The second is that it began a small trend of films in the late 1990's that portrayed the President of the United States as not only an everyday man, but a man who was capable of battling space aliens in INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996) and fighting off Russian terrorists in AIR FORCE ONE (1997). The third is that (and I may be stretching things a bit here), it may have been an interesting prelude to the whole Monica Lewinski scandal of 1998. Although looking back at THAT now, and having had to go through eight miserable years of the likes of George W. Bush, I can fondly look back on the great days of this country when our biggest concern in the White House was BLOWJOBS!

But in this wonderful Frank Capra-esque film, however, Michael Douglas' President Andrew Shepherd merely wants to go out on a date with a female lobbyist played by Annette Bening, whom he finds very attractive (OMG!!! HOW DARE HE!!!). I mean, really, why the hell not? Because when the widowed President is not busy being President, he's still just a man who's capable of dating, sleeping with, and loving a woman. Of course, American public opinion on the President's character has a way of shifting back and forth like a very bad mood swing over his dating debacle. In the end, though, the viewer simply wants the guy to get the girl and live happily ever after. He does, and they do.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Lewis Rothchild: "Who're we calling, sir?"
President Shepherd: "I'm calling the organization of the United Brotherhood of It's None of Your Damn Business, Lewis. I'll be with you in a second."
Lewis: "Yes, sir."