The American President (1995)

Director:

Rob Reiner

Writer (WGA):

Aaron Sorkin (written by)

Release Date:

17 November 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Why can't the most powerful man in the world have the one thing he wants most?

Plot:

Comedy-drama about a widowed US president and a lobbyist who fall in love. It's all aboveboard, but "politics is perception" and sparks fly anyway.

Plot Keywords:

Politician | Senator | White House | Gun Control | Liberal

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 8 nominations

Cast

Michael Douglas	...	President Andrew Shepherd
Annette Bening	...	Sydney Ellen Wade
Martin Sheen	...	A.J. MacInerney
Michael J. Fox	...	Lewis Rothschild
Anna Deavere Smith	...	Robin McCall
Samantha Mathis	...	Janie Basdin
Shawna Waldron	...	Lucy Shepherd
David Paymer	...	Leon Kodak
Anne Haney	...	Mrs. Chapil
Richard Dreyfuss	...	Senator Bob Rumson
Nina Siemaszko	...	Beth Wade
Wendie Malick	...	Susan Sloan
Beau Billingslea	...	Agent Cooper
Gail Strickland	...	Esther MacInerney
Joshua Malina	...	David

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some strong language.

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | SDDS

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Belgium:KT | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Germany:6 | Iceland:L | Netherlands:AL | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #33993)

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, California, USA

Company:

Castle Rock Entertainment

Trivia:

President 'Bill Clinton' and his staff granted permission for the cast and production design team to visit the White House on several occasions.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When the President is playing pool, he says to the Chief of Staff "eight ball in the corner pocket," but he is clearly aiming for and hits the nine.

Quotes:

[Sydney and President D'Astier were conversing in French]
President Andrew Shepherd: Sydney, you didn't dissolve our trade agreements, did you?
Sydney Ellen Wade: No, I just said we're sitting in this beautiful room, listening to the music of this wonderful orchestra, and I wondered why nobody was dancing.
President René Jean D'Astier: And I informed Miss Wade that in my country, a guest at the palace of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette would soon find their head in a guillotine if they made the impertinent gesture of dancing without so much as a by-your-leave from the King and the Queen.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Big Shots: Tall, Dark and Hairless (#1.2)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Viens, Mallika

Warm, fun film with a big heart

US President Andrew Shepherd is a widower who was sweep into power on the back of great public sympathy. Three years into his presidency he meets and falls for Sydney Ellen Wade, an environmental lobbyist. Eventually they begin to date against the counsel of his advisors, giving his rivals (most notably Senator Rumson) and the media the ammunition they need to begin to attack his presidency.

This is not exactely a political thriller. In fact it is as far removed from reality as you could imagine. However that's the point, this film doesn't pretend to be anything other than a romantic comedy - it has some political wranglings but it is very far from the (still very tidy and clean) rule of Martin Sheen's President in TV's The West Wing. However the story is nicely handled and Rob Reiner is natually very good at this type of thing. Here it occasionally is far too sickly sweet and sentimental, but most of it works well.

Douglas is good in the lead and looks quite acceptable as the President of the US - lets be honest, if it was him or "oil baron" Bush who would you pick? Bening is also good as Sydney but neither have anything outside of the usual romantic leads to do. The real strength here is the supporting cast - both in terms of class and sheer enterainment value.To name a few - Sheen, MJ Fox, Mathis, Dreyfuss - all big names, all funny performances.

Overall this is a big sloppy romantic comedy, but it's done with so much class that it's hard not to like it. Not brillant, but very enjoyable all the same.