THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT (1995) *** You know that there's hope for this one when they do their dramatic swinging camera celebration of the history of the Presidency and you see a lot of Washington, Jefferson, and Kennedy, but nothing of a recent President whose name shall never be mentioned in the context of decent movies. The dialogue is very witty, and insightful without unduly preaching; Michael Douglas is reasonably believable as a good-enough guy who ends up being President, Annette Bening is likable and reasonably believable as an environmental lobbyist with a short fuse...a lobbyist who shoots from the hip? So yes, it is a fairy tale. Nothing wrong with fairy tales though, or love stories, and this one does a decent job of both. The unfortunate thing is that while the writers obviously have a reasonable sensitivity towards the myriad problems ingrained in the American political system, they clearly have no idea whatsoever how they might be solved. So President Mike gives a good speech, busts out the environmental bill to save the world from the Greenhouse Effect, gets the girl, gets re-elected, and the environment gets saved and integrity is returned to the White House, and they live happily ever after. Of course all of our environmental problems were solved by 1970 with the passage of The Clean Air Act, The Clean Water Act, and The Environmental Protection Act. The trick isn't sending a bill, or even passing it. The trick is actually accomplishing something besides being elected and passing acts.
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