American President

Ever since I realized Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay for American President, I could't help watching it again and again, by each time it grows on me merely because of his effect. American President isn't that good, but the guy who wrote it surely is. The West Wing, which until season 4 was penned by Sorkin, is simply the best television drama ever made. Incidentally, Sorkin brought three people from the cast of American President to his tv project, one of whom later played a major role as President Jed Bartlett. It is impossible not to compare these two flicks, and harder yet not to see the similarity so obvious in them.

The last time I watched American President it was triggered by Marc Shaiman's exquisite musical composition. Though in the whole album the main theme is reprised in most of the tracks and is distinctively recognizable, it still remains a beautifully romantic orchestration complete with patriotic themes, which led it to be used three years after the release in Saving Private Ryan's trailer. I downloaded the trailer a few days ago, and it worked like magic (Immediate Music's "Here Comes the King" used in Chronicles of Narnia's trailer is another great example). Likewise trailers, a great score is an easy influence to make me watch a movie.

First, it must be understood that at its heart, American President is a romance/drama set in politics background, although it also gives a broad picture on how the president of United States works (of course, not generally). The running president, Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas), is a widow with a teenage daughter whose approval rating in the beginning of the movie shows a strong 63%. Shepherd is running for his second term, and he wants to pass a crime bill and an environmental protection bill to the Congress. He's set with the crime bill, not so sure about the other one, but the Global Defense Council (a fictitous agency, I can't really tell what its real purpose is) wants him to save the earth from further global warming destruction. They brings in a political strategist from Virginia, Sydney Allen Wade (Annette Bening) to lobby the White House. She arrives, she accuses him of a leader of fantasy world, but nails a deal with him. The president likes her, asks her to be his date in a state dinner, and things get mixed up from there. Bottom line is the president thinks his personal relationship is a private agenda and should not be taken into the public, while his opponent gladly takes this opportunity to slash his character, causing his approval rating to severely slip down. Because this is drama with political setting, speech(es) are obligatory. And so it is, the whole story about rejection to acknowledge a persident's personal relationship to the public resolved only by one speech at the end. A most invigorating one, too, if I must say.

Now, however reviving the speech is, no matter how many times I try to like the character Andrew Shepherd, I can't like him beyond his name. The guy walks with a stick up his ass everywhere and not even realizes it. Michael Douglas is supposed to be playing a role of a charismatic, charming, and powerful leader. He got the last part just dandy, but the former ones aren't evident. If I were Sydney Allen Wade, would I be attracted to this guy because of his efficent talking and orderly manner? Oh, besides the fact that he's the leader of the free world, of course. He may score on the charisma, because if I were a citizen under his governance, he looked like the right person. But, because this is Sorkin's, I've seen better. Even in American President, A.J. McInerney seems like he'd do a better role replacing Michael Douglas. Martin Sheen is just born to do it. He can do the calm posture as well as the frenzied-angry-president attitude. Anna Deavere Smith, who took on the role of the superlady Nancy McNally (NSA director) in West Wing is Press Secretary Robin McCall here. Another appearance of West Wing's cast is Joshua Malina (David), a regular around season 4 and up. I kinda like Michael J. Fox's role here, as he reminds me of the deputy communications staff Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) yet he shares the traits of Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff). Watching this movie, I can see where Sorkin got his inspirations from. Another similarity shared is the relationship between Chief of Staff (Sheen) and the president (Douglas), which dated back to years ago, where the chief was the one behind the wheel pushing the president to gain his political position. This relationship can also be noticed between Leo McGarry and President Bartlett in the West Wing.

Although it takes me more than one viewing to get Aaron Sorkin's fast-paced dialogues, often times I just don't get it at all, his portrayal of how powerful people work as an idealistic goverment body is simply excellent. When he left West Wing after season 4, the series stopped getting awards and lost viewers. In Hollywood, there's nobody as brilliant as he in the politics arena.

Because I'm highly biased, 4/5.