The American President

Plot synopsis:
Popular Democratic President Andrew Shepherd is preparing to run for re-election. The President and his staff, led by Chief of Staff and best friend A.J. MacInerney, attempt to consolidate the administration's 63% approval rating by passing a moderate crime control bill. However, support for the bill in both parties is tepid: conservatives do not want it, and liberals think it is too weak. If it passes, however, Shepherd's re-election is presumed by his staff to be a shoo-in, and Shepherd resolves to announce the bill, and the Congressional support to pass it, by the State of the Union.
With the President of France about to arrive in the United States to attend a state dinner in his honor, Shepherd—widowed when his wife died of cancer three years earlier—is placed in an awkward predicament when his cousin Judith, with whom he had planned to attend the dinner, gets sick.
The President's attention soon focuses on Sydney Ellen Wade, just hired by an environmental lobbying firm to persuade the President to pass legislation committing his Administration to substantially reduce carbon dioxide emissions. During their first meeting, Shepherd and Wade are immediately intrigued by each other. At this meeting, Shepherd strikes a deal with Wade: if she can secure 24 votes for the environmental bill by the date of the State of the Union, he will deliver the last 10 votes. Whatever his personal feelings toward Wade, he expresses this to his staff, especially the pragmatic A.J., as a sound political move. He believes Wade will not be able to get enough votes to meet her side of the deal, thus releasing Shepherd from responsibility if the bill fails to pass.
Later that evening, in a series of phone calls, Shepherd invites Wade to the state dinner. During the State dinner and subsequent occasions, the couple fall in love. When the Republican presidential hopeful Senator Bob Rumson learns "the President's got a girlfriend," he steps up his attacks on Shepherd and Wade, focusing on Wade's activist past and maligning Shepherd's ethics and his family values. The President refuses to respond to these attacks, which drives his approval ratings lower and costs him crucial political support, without which his crime bill seems doomed to failure.
At the White House Christmas Party, Wade is dejected about her meeting that day with three Congressmen from Michigan about the environmental bill and how it was a dismal failure; in the process, she inadvertently mentions to the President and A.J. that the Congressmen in question said the only bill they were more interested in defeating than the President's crime bill was Wade's environmental bill. Shepherd and A.J. are conflicted by this information as Wade clearly had no idea of the implications of this casual conversation, much less that they might actually use this information in their favor and against her environmental bill.
Eventually, Wade does manage to get enough votes to meet her part of the deal. However, in the meantime, Shepherd's team discovers he is exactly three votes short, with no other apparent options to acquire them except by shelving the environmental bill, thus solidifying the support of the three Congressmen from Michigan—which he agrees to do. This results in disaster for Wade as she is immediately fired from her lobbyist job for failing to achieve her objectives, as well as seemingly jeopardizing her political reputation. She visits the White House to break up with Shepherd and says that she has a job possibility in Hartford, Connecticut. He tells her politics is making choices, his number-one has always been the crime control bill, and that he does not want to lose her over this. She congratulates him on getting the leverage to pass a crime bill that in no way will help fight crime. She concludes, "Mr. President, you have bigger problems than losing me—you've just lost my vote."
On the morning that he is to deliver his State of the Union Address, and after an argument with A.J., Shepherd makes a surprise appearance in the White House press room and rebuts Rumson's attacks on Wade's past and his own values and character. He declares he will send the controversial environmental bill to Congress with a massive 20% cut in fossil fuels — far more than the 10% originally envisioned — and that he is withdrawing his support for the weak crime bill, promising to write a stronger one in due time. In his speech he even promises gun control, in an attempt at root-and-branch solving of America's problems. His passionate and erudite defense of those things in which he believes, in contrast to his earlier passive behavior, galvanizes the press and his staff.
Shepherd declares he is "going over to her house and I'm not leaving until I get her back", but Wade enters the Oval Office before he can leave. The couple are reconciled and the President, accompanied by Wade, leaves to give his State of the Union Address. The film ends with Shepherd entering the House chamber to thunderous applause.

Tags: dramatic, cult, cute, romantic

Review:
This is a great feel good movie about a charismatic, essentially very decent, fictional U.S. President, played by Michael Douglas in an extremely likable role.
In terms of romance, there is the ongoing love story between the widowed President and the young lobbyist, Sydney, charmingly played by Annette Benning.
Naturally the course of true love never does run smooth so it goes without saying that additionally, this unusual fishbowl courtship would have some unique problems as politics and public opinion intrude upon the couple's personal life.A certain built in comedy natural for a dating President makes this romance all the more enchanting.
During his initial phone call to Sydney, she believes he's one of her friends pulling a prank, which of course results in some hilarity.Naturally this tale is ripe with politics, and some reviewers even claim that the film is something of a precursor to TV's West Wing.
Fox, Samantha Mathis, Annette Bening as Sydney Ellen Wade and in my favourite performance, Richard Dreyfuss as the sniveling weasle Senator Bob Rumsen.As the story goes, the president's character gets questioned when he ( a widow ) finds a girlfriend in Sydney Wade.
Nothing is really tip-toed around as the script writer ( Aaron Sorkin ) writes a brave script about what is right and wrong with being the president and having a girlfriend.I personally liked the politics in the film.
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.
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.
This film sees the best acting from Michael Douglas (my God, he isn't a villain), Annette Bening (power woman), Michael J Fox (finally not a teen) and Martin Sheen (oh so amusing).
With a top notch cast and production values The American President is the continuation of an old Hollywood tradition of films where nobility wins out in the game of politics.
Even in the small roles the actors (like Joshua Malina and John Mahoney) give good performances.The film's production values are just as strong as its cast.
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.
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.
(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.
Annette Benning is attractive and passable as the lobbyist--first girl friend; Martin Sheen is acceptable as Douglas's aide; but no one is outstandingly good I claim nor unacceptable; their believability I suggest is produced by the ideas and values they are representing.
Fox's speech level is inadequate as the committed, immature aide; Samantha Mathis and Shawna Waldron and Leon Kodak, Anna Deavere Smith, Richard Dreyfuss, Gail Strickland, and many others get small telling moments; the film centers so well I claim on the president and his lady that all else become background, mosaic pieces in a larger picture, observing, relating to, or commenting on the main thrust of action--a president doing his job and asking his rights.
I mean, I've come to expect a little left-wing propaganda in most films from Hollywood, but to this degree?!Two hours of Liberal preaching are capped off in the U.S. President's final speech of the movie, in which he proclaims how "proud" he is to be a card-carrying member of the ACLU!!!
Being a "card-carrying" member of the ultra-Left People For the American Way, Reiner shows us a charming, loving portrait of a President that somehow reminds us of Bill Clinton, if he were a bachelor.Can you imagine if someone was this heavy-handed on the Right and tried to make a similar movie??
This is one movie I can remember that really brings the daily goings-on in the White House seem like daily grind rather than grand drama where huge decisions are made and enormous events occur all the time--granted whatever is decided and happens in the White House is indeed huge and enormous, but the film doesn't inflate it to some elitist/exclusive point of view.And while the movie can be enjoyed purely for its cinematic value, what I do appreciate about this film is that it does make good, valid points about American politics and the presidency of the United States.
President Andrew Sheppard (played by Michael Douglas) engages in several conversations and even arguments about what it means to be in his position and how that affects the way he serves his constituents, the American public.
His last speech rings true; besides his views that favor obviously to the left of the political spectrum, he makes honest comments about how politicians win elections and how that affects their ability to do their job.I consider this movie to be a basic cinematic course in understanding the American Presidency and political elements that invariably surround it.
It may come off as a left-wing, liberally biased film, but it makes no confusion about the fact that whether they are Democrats or Republicans, politicians have their flaws and unscrupulous methods of keeping their position of power, including the President himself.
But this film stereotypes liberals and conservatives alike, and has about the sophistication level you'd expect from a political treatise written by a p****d-off 15-year-old.The movie is hypocritical, too, because it creates a very passive and flighty character in the form of Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening, annoying as all Hell in this movie).
The plot follows young, handsome, charismatic President Andrew Shepherd as he wines and dines lovely lobbyist Ellen Wade, while trying to run the country, improve his popularity and electability, navigate political minefields and raise his teenage daughter.
The story is based on the fact that President Andrew Shephard (Douglas) will soon be facing reelection, an election which may be compromised by the fact that he is developing a romantic interest in an envorinmental lobbyist named Sydney Ellen Wade (played beautifully by Annette Bening).
Fox) are urgently trying to persuade him not to date during the election.One of the strange things about this movie is that it's kind of ironic that no one has really made a political film like this that centers around a romance involving the President.
While it doesn't exactly SOUND like it would make the greatest film, this premise has resulted in the exceedingly superior romantic comedy that we see in The American President.
I think that the reason that The American President succeeds so well as a political film as well as a romantic comedy is that both elements are so realistically presented.
I think it was Roger Ebert who praised The American President for approaching and handling real issues, such as gun control and the environment, instead of side-stepping this and trying to present a President who is not taking any certain stands on any certain issues that might cause the film's audience to like him or the movie less.
President Andrew Shephard is faced with the unfortunate task of trying to appease the American public, retain his position in the White House, convince Sydney Ellen Wade that he is who he says he is and that he is genuinely interested in her, and provide for his own romantic happiness, with the added conflict that if any one of them fails, all of the others are likely to fail as well.
It's true that, this being a rather light-hearted romantic comedy, we already know how the film is going to end, but brilliant dialogue, a fascinating story, unusually interesting characters, and a tense political atmosphere prevent the material from getting boring just because we really already know how it's going to turn out in the end.
"Meathead" is better off sticking with comedy (like the brilliant "Spinal Tap"), than pushing his liberal left-wing, fantasy-based agenda onto the American public.Such as shame, because the scenes involving the inner workings of the White House were actually quite entertaining.
I suppose partisan politics have to be injected in any movie about an American president, but the concept of balance (especially on Reiner's scale of late, to pardon the pun) seems to be long forgotten in Hollywood..
It's a charming film , a naive film that was made in 1995 but watching it ten years after it was released I couldn't help falling out of my chair as the naivety takes centre stage Michael Douglas plays American president Andrew Shepherd and he bares a physical resemblance to Bill Clinton while the script makes no bones that he's a democrat .
It's uncanny watching all this play out , it's like being in an alternative universe where environmental groups detest the democrats ( I'm sure they'd have preferred a Texas oil baron become president ) , the French president is guest of honour at the White House ( How times change ) and how a Donald Rumsfeld lookalike can become a presidential candidate for the republicans If you like romantic comedies you'll like this movie .
MICHAEL DOUGLAS stars as President Andrew Shepherd who, quite unexpectedly, falls in love with ANNETTE BENING starring as Sydney Wade, an environmental lobbyist, In "The American President." The film offers a rare glimpse at an uncommon romance involving a most powerful man who must overcome obstacles not faced by average citizens.
FOX), White House Pollster (DAVID PAYMER), White House Press Secretary (ANNA DEAVERE SMITH) and Personal Aide (SAMANTHA MATHIS) coordinate his busy schedule, deal with the demands of Congress, and quell any global predicaments, all during an election year.But political crises are different than personal ones.Only this American President can find a way to fulfill the responsibilities of the office as well as the needs of the woman he loves..
None of the characters are believable - some actors try harder with their material (Fox gives it a good stab), but there's no saving paper-thin characterisations that surround a cheap love story.Give this a miss - it'll only disappoint, and instead watch any episode of The West Wing again..
Besides, were the plot played out in real life, I would have real issues if a widowed president bedded a woman -- nay, a political lobbyist -- several doors down from his sleeping daughter.Also, Annette Bening's performance was insulting.
Aaron Sorkin's script and pitch-perfect performances by Annette Bening and Michael Douglas create a funny and ultimately poignant movie that makes a viewer happy to be an American.Douglas portrays a flawed but deeply honest president who knows how to learn from his mistakes.
It shows that even the president isn't but an ordinary man with human feelings, but that his life is being lead by many others except by him.Even though sometimes too little happened to keep the movie very interesting, I have to say that in the end it still worked well.
Richard Dreyfuss plays the foil in this story as the Republican candidate for President, and thinking about the current election cycle, he actually seems to evoke John McCain in a sort of uncanny way, but he's not just a villain, he's an aggressive candidate who wants to win in a political landscape where the sitting President, played by Michael Douglas, finds his job to be in jeopardy with okay but not very good polls.There's so much to like here; Annette Benning just glows in her role, and it's very skillful how the movie modulates a fine balance between seeing her in her job and as a love interest.
The film tells the story about This widowed President who meets and falls in love with a lobbyist and how they make their relationship work amongst the political strife Shepard must deal with every day, being the President and all.
The first is between Michael Douglas and Annette Benning; the second is between writer Aaron Sorkin and the Presidency.The seeds of The West Wing were planted here, but with them came its faults.
Michael J Fox reminds us how wasted he was through much of the 1990s, with a typically charming performance, and Martin Sheen is worth a mention as the Chief of Staff, in a role pre-dating the violent coup that saw him take the Presidency in time for The West Wing.
As Bill Pullman proved in Independence Day, it's always difficult to be a convincing President, but Michael Douglas pulls it off quite nicely, and while the chemistry between him and Annette Benning won't become the stuff of legend, their relationship was convincing if not always interesting.If you can see beyond the preaching, the movie passes the time well enough.
It was probably not the film of the year but it was pleasant to see Michael Douglas in a more vulnerable role than we are used to seeing him and Annette Bening is a good choice (other actresses may have done as well or better but she meets the expectations).
I "like" Douglas, Sheen, Bening and Fox. I love that he portrays a patriotic president who fully supports the constitution and the bill of rights.
As the President, Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas), gets to know Sydney Ellen Wade, he tries to balance his work and personal lives.
Even with Rob Reiner's name attached, "The American President" is an Aaron Sorkin movie; I don't mean just his superb dialogue, but it seems fair to say that it feels like "The West Wing" as a romantic comedy (i.e. right up my alley).
A little more Capra, a little less Stone, and it could have been a great film.The American President is your basic Cinderella story, with a President(Michael Douglas) instead of a prince and an environmental lobbyist (Annette Bening) instead of Cinderella.
If you're a conservative, you'll feel like the wicked stepmother.It's true that politics and love make for strange bedfellows, and this movie uses both to present a fresh idea - being the President ain't all it's cracked up to be, especially when it comes to dating or buying flowers.
After following politics a few years later, I watched this film again and I discovered that I really loved this movie!
Michael Douglas plays a likable yet sympathetic President while Annette Bening is absolutely adorable in her role as the President's love interest.This film isn't about vilifying one political party or making another heroic, but instead it shows how living a political life affects the lives of all these characters and how even political figures in high office have complicated lives too.
Unlike some movies (like Michael Moore's manipulative, dishonest Bowling for Columbine, for example, that takes advantage of an audience through false footage and misrepresentation of fact), this is a romantic comedy that also works as a political statement without being too self-important.It is funny seeing Martin Sheen as the Chief of Staff and not the President.
***Starring: Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, and Richard Dreyfuss.The widow American President of the United States starts to fall for a lobbyist for an environmental problem.
Because we buy that we are watching the President, and because the two leads play such winning characters, and because they have such great chemistry, the romantic exchanges between Bening and Douglas are among the most delightful ever put on film.
Michael Douglas turns in one of his best performances as President Andrew Shepard in this clever blend of drama, romance, and comedy.
There are good performances from a number of actors including Michael Douglas who is surprisingly warm as the widower President Shepherd and Annette Benning who is quite convincing as the hard-nosed lobbist Sydney who becomes the `First Girlfriend.' Martin Sheen and Michael J Fox  also turn in sterling performances as senior White House staff.
President of the USA, Chief Executive, and widower, Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas) falls for a lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening), and then freefalls in the polls.
The American President has long been my favorite movie due to the brilliance of Aaron Sorkin's writing style and the performances of Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Michael J.
Michael Douglas as Mr. President fits perfectly into the wonderful world of his movie.
I was going through my mom's movies and I came across The American President, I love Michael Douglas and Annette Benning, so I figured I could give this a shot.
Fox, Richard Dreyfuss, and Martin Sheen who made the story very believable.President Andrew Shepherd is very loved by his people, the next election seems like and open and shut competition since everyone loves him.
Lovely romantic movie of the old school with lots of likeable support characters and good situation comedy.There's a political thread somewhere in here and apparently being 'for' gun and polution control makes this film a radical liberal's joy-fest.
I really enjoy political satire and films with the president as a character in general.