"The American President" A Film Review by Linda Lopez McAlister on "The Women's Show" WMNF-FM 88.5, Tampa, FL January 6, 1996 Hi. Since there were no new releases this week--at least here in Tampa--that demanded to be reviewed on a segment called "women and film" I decided to play catch up and go back and see a film I missed earlier but that's still in the theaters here even though it opened before Thanksgiving, "The American President." You probably already know that this is a romantic comedy produced and directed by Rob Reiner (in another life Archie Bunker's son-in-law "the meathead"). It stars Annette Bening as Sydney Ellen Wade, a hot-shot, high-paid, political lobbyist and Michael Douglas as Andrew Shepherd, the widowed President of the United States. This is, above all, a fun film for intelligent grown-ups whose politics are on the liberal side. He may not be "the meathead" anymore, but Reiner still espouses that character's erstwhile political views and, luckily for us, he does so without apology. He packages them in such a way that even those who wouldn't describe themselves with the "L" word will end up rooting for gun control, environmental protection and the ACLU! Those folks whose politics match those of conservative Senator Rumson (Richard Dreyfuss) will probably be uncomfortable watching this film, but they probably won't even go see it anyway. Meanwhile, it has grossed $51 million in the seven weeks it has been out. What was most interesting to me about this film is how it dealt with the issue of the independent, strong career woman who is also head-over-heels in love. At first, it didn't seem to know how to deal with it and made what seemed to me too stark a contrast between the two images. Sydney as a working professional was very believable but Sydney, all dewey-eyed and schoolgirlish when the President invites her to be his date at a formal state dinner seemed a bit much. On the other hand, the film, early on, stresses the enormous power of the institution of the Presidency, and I found myself wondering whether I wouldn't be just as awed and overwhelmed by the situation as she was. Especially after smart, cagey Sydney is completely undone with embarassment after twice hanging up on the President when he calls to ask her for that date because she thinks it's some prank caller putting her on. This phone scene alone is worth the price of admission. Anyway, after they've been going together for a while Sydney gets over her regression to adolescence--a reaction that President undergoes as well. Martin Sheen who plays the Chief of Staff has the best line on this subject; after being pestered by the President who wants to know what Sydney said about him after their first meeting he says, "I don't know but I could pass her a note in study hall." In the end I think we have in this film one of the best positive portrayals I've seen of a multi-dimensional modern woman where being successful in a demanding career is not seen as a negative thing nor as something that rules out being kind, affectionate, and healthily sexually active. This is a definite advance. I'd like to mention that this is possibly a minor film milestone: it's possibly the first mainstream film in which the words "women's studies course" are mentioned. It's not a great plug for W.S.--it's the one course in college that Andrew Shepherd didn't get an "A" in--but, hey, just the fact that the film takes notice of the fact that there are such things and have been for twenty-five years can't be all bad. (Given his age, Andrew Shepherd would have had to have been in one of the earliest W.S. courses ever offered at !) Stanford. Anyway, if you're in the mood for a film about Washington and want something light and upbeat rather than the alternatives, i.e., "Nixon" check out "The American President." It's worth your while. For the Women's Show this is Linda Lopez McAlister on Women and Film. Copyright 1996. All rights reserved. Please do not reprint or reproduce this review without the permission of the author: mcaliste@chuma.cas.usf.edu.