The American President (1995) 115 Minutes

Whatever the Crew makes of Tooda’s Pick, there is no denying that this was a Movienight to be remembered.

The first thing that sets this evening apart is that though we have debated whether a Pick was a “chick flick” before, Tooda is the first SELECTOR to announce that he was purposefully bucking the By-Laws and that there need be no debate about it - ‘The American President’ is a chick flick.

More importantly, in honor of her one full year of attending Movienight, Bourbon Cookie was bestowed the enormous honor of Membership within our hallowed halls. Like Buffy and Jaja, Bourbon Cookie has not been granted a place in our SELECTOR rotation, but she is now a full Member and will enjoy all the benefits such Membership provides.

The warming trend continued and temperatures stayed above 60 degrees for the duration of the film. But that warm air came with a hitch. The Santa Ana winds were ferocious throughout the film, and Tooda was forced to triage the Sheet throughout the story’s first act. The scotch tape approach worked well until an enormous blast of wind blew the sheet off the wall entirely - sending a half gallon of paint crashing to the tile of the Eisenberg’s Back Yard. The paint splattered all over the ground, some of our Members and our beloved Sheet as well. The Crew banded together as we always have in such trials and scooped up paint, rinsed off tile, and generally got our hands dirty to make sure that the show could go on. After serving as our screen for twenty-eight Picks, the Sheet Netti bought for Movienight was retired mid presentation. The second half of Tooda’s Pick was shown on the Stucco of Nubby’s Man Shack. While 70 percent of the image looked perfect, the Audience had to deal with the bottom left of the film being presented on a window. Despite the imperfection, some in the Crew remarked how nice it was to see a film on Stucco once again.

While we haven’t yet worked out next week’s set up, it is clear that a new surface will be needed and filled paint cans will no longer be trusted to anchor said surface.

Rob Reiner directs for the second time here, after his debut in Nubby’s ‘Stand By Me.’ Also returning, Richard Dreyfuss is hot on Roy Scheider’s heels now as he has five appearances under his belt (‘Stand By Me,’ ‘Let It Ride,’ ‘Jaws,’ & ‘CEOT3K’). John Mahoney makes his second Movienight turn after debuting in ‘The Hudsucker Proxy,’ Annette Bening is back in her second “American” film after her debut in Slim’s ‘American Beauty,’ and David Paymer also goes for two after his brief appearance as a cabbie in Nubs’ ‘The In-Laws.’ Michael Douglas, Martin Sheen and Michael J. Fox all bow for the first time here. Aaron Sorkin debuts here as well, but his name came up in a few of the reviews for Tooda’s ‘Network.’

“Because if I wasn’t, you’d be the most popular History Professor at the University of Wisconsin.”

Written by: Aaron Sorkin

Directed by: Rob Reiner

Brandon Comments:

Politics are in the air and our MovieNight Selections are starting to carry the burden of this oft-histrionic genre. In his hearty preamble, Tooda spoke of our future president, Obama, in a limelight seldom used on anyone but the greatest of actors, world leaders and heroes, which, I believe, is a category we all agree Barack belongs in. But that was all pillow-talk, because when it came to the actual penetrating intercourse of his Selection following that preamble, we merely got a hand-job and a kiss on the cheek. From the biggest detester of chick flicks comes one of the cuty-ist chick flicks ever to grace the mighty Fabric.

‘The American President’ isn’t a terrible film or anything – it’s cute and fuzzy and makes you feel good…a romantic dramedy to the max. It’s clever at times and well acted by Bening, Sheen and Douglas. But seeing it again at MovieNight, after about 9 years, made me realize just how romantic and love-themed this film is, and how a president dating someone who opposes him politically is kind of like a new take on Romeo & Juliet, with the two rival families. Only a lot more is at stake than a broken heart...

And, dare I say it aloud, this is one HELL OF A chick flick! Oh, how I prayed for this day, when I could redeem myself for showing my chick flick, ‘Holy Smoke!’ I took my whuppin’s and beatin’s in the reviews….I wonder how yours will pan out, Tooda.

There’s only one way to describe this film, and that would be: “Yeah, it’s cute.”

Netti Comments:

To me this film goes down like steamed chicken breast with carrots and peas, a ranch side salad, a glass of 2% milk, a bowl of vanilla ice-cream; and all the while I'm eating this at an Ikea table wearing khakis with a blue dress shirt; it's 67 degrees. This whole film feels as if it was created out of a focus group or conceived of while reading just the slugs of various magazine covers at a newsstand. Annette Benning's character is feisty; she says what she means and she means what she says. Yet, she is also feminine enough to let this King take her to the land of the princess and wear his man-shirt as a nighty. The President is perfectly mannered, accomplished and well-rounded; He can dance, be a loving father, drop bombs on people (and feel bad for the janitors in the Libyan defense ministry), seduce a woman, defeat an opponent, want to know the Packers score, pour the perfect beer, know how to tighten those abs and everything else you would hope to read on the cover of Men's Health.

I mean it. I think this movie was focus grouped to death in order to create three-dimensional characters and we end up with well-rounded, two-dimensional Sims. When virtual reality completely eclipses film in 40 years, relegating it to the level of art on a wall in a storefront gallery, these non-living beings might very well be what a computer program might concoct out of a series of humanity's bell-curve qualities and aspirations.

One technical positive: the gentle float of the camera when these two meet in the oval office is quite nice. It effectively communicated the pressure they were both feeling; her pressure on of account of her glaring gaffe, his on account of her glaring beauty.

As Tooda said in his preamble "Movienight is at its best when it gives us something to think about during the week". I will be thinking about the color beige for the week. Mind-numbing beige.

Nubs Comments:

Not only did Tooda announce in his preamble that his Pick was a By-Law violation as a chick-flick, he also revealed it was not a Slam Dunk of a movie. At least in so many words and an apologetic tone, “this is not the best film shown at Movienight,” Tooda introduced his riskiest pick since ‘The Sea Inside.’ Just as Velvet and many other circumstances ruined that ill-fated night, the Movienight Gods sent a gust of wind that literally ripped the screen from the wall.

One might be asking, as most of us were, why would a SELECTOR choose to violate the one law which consistently draws the most criticism if that film is not great enough to earn a Slam Dunk? Though we might hypothesize some conspiracy theories, the reason was the jam session started by Bourbon the week before with ‘The Candidate.’ This provided Tooda with the diving platform into his two favorites, politics and Aaron Sorkin. He had been able to stick other questionable dives with his Chris Makepeace homage of ‘Meatballs’ and ‘My Bodyguard,’ and his Meg Ryan heavy ‘Joe Versus the Volcano,’ so you know our beloved Mr. Never-folds saw his opportunity to go all in. While I have the poker metaphor still working, let me say Never-folds was revealed to be holding a king queen offsuit, or a cute pair - but a mediocre hand.

‘The American President’ is only interesting for it’s examination of the election game. That is why Tooda thought it might fly, despite the early polls. Unfortunately, its about politics exactly as much as ‘Bull Durham’ is about baseball. It makes up for it with its sappiness and predictable stock characters. I remember enjoying this film more years ago pre-’West Wing.’ I think the problem now is that ‘The West Wing’ was much better after this: it’s pilot. ‘The West Wing’ was much less cheesy, less contrived, more politically driven, and Martin Sheen is a more believable president than Michael Douglas. It’s ironic but I think ‘The American President’ has a very tidy T.V. quality that would explain why Davis was so drawn in when he viewed it that afternoon, but just doesn’t carry a Wednesday night, windy mishaps and all.

So we ask again, why Tooda would bring us a less than perfect chick-flick. Well, I can tell you as a founding SELECTOR like Tooda and myself, who are the only ones burdened, nay privileged, with the unique opportunity to choose the night’s entertainment for the Crew for going on 3 years now, sometimes you just gotta close your eyes and swing for the fences. Actually, skip the batter metaphor, it’s more like the pitcher who has shown his best stuff throughout the game, but is reduced in the seventh inning to trying to squeak by some tricky pitches cause the other team’s bullpen has got a bead on the fast ball. I make that point but really we all know, Tooda is a big softy who wants us to love his sweet, political Sorkin as much as he does. Perhaps if Pat Towne would have been there who shares their unique man-love, or perhaps if Buffy, perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. We will always love Tooda for willing to expect the most earnest out of his peers, for wearing his heart on his sleeve, and most importantly because he is the only one that can set-up Movienight, and post our reviews of his shitty, I mean awesome Pick.

SELECTOR Comments:

This was a rough night. Beyond the issues caused by the high winds, ‘The American President’ failed to function as I had hoped it would.

I have seen this film many, many times - and despite its flaws - it warms my heart. Sorkin and Reiner do succeed in crafting a Capra-esque tale. I never saw the film in the theater, and as I came to know it and become enamored with it I regretted not seeing it on the big screen. My hope was that the larger the canvas the more resonant the film’s efforts at grandeur would become. I was wrong. ‘The American President’ belongs exactly where I found it... alone on a lazy Saturday afternoon on the TV set. It fits there - and it fits well. The bigger you make it, the more hollow it all seems. Writ large, ‘The American President’ comes off more like a TV Pilot then a film (Sorkin should try to make a series out of it...).

While I am happy I took a stand against the controversial “chick flick” rule, I wish I had chosen a better way to buck the trend. For all of its charm, ‘The American President’ fails as a Pick. The trouble for me last Wednesday was that that became obvious shortly after the film began. I almost wished MOFO was there to shout “skip.” The wind and other snafus felt like the Movienight Gods expressing their displeasure.

In the end I feel this was my weakest effort to date (though certainly better than ‘Night of the Demon’). I will be aiming for redemption with my next at bat.

Onwards.

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