THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 17, 1995 TAG: 9511170560
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
A ROMANCE involving real grown-ups is so rare at the movies that ``The American President'' may seem better than it actually is. In any case, it's something of a delight.
Cross out the politics, and this is a refreshingly starry-eyed love match. Michael Douglas is an idealistic president who falls for a smart, sassy, sexy Virginia lobbyist, played memorably by Annette Bening. The problems of dating in and around the White House are at the center of things, but the tone of the movie is believable.
It's nice to see Douglas play something other than a victim, but Bening makes this movie work. She is wide-eyed and awed when she's asked out by the president; at the same time, she's never quite simple-minded about it. Bening's role - an intelligent woman asked to play second fiddle when she's in love with the leader of the free world - has an edge to it that is deceptively difficult to bring off. It would be no surprise if she gets an Oscar nomination.
While this Cinderella tale recalls those Doris Day-Rock Hudson comedies, it's often smart and witty. On the other hand, ``The American President'' comes perilously close to preaching when it tries to present a political agenda.
President Andrew Shepherd (Douglas) is a liberal Democrat, and it is clear that everyone involved in making the movie shares his politics. Director Rob Reiner was given full access to the Clinton White House. Michael J. Fox's character is based on George Stephanopoulos, the wonder kid of the Clinton gang. This president also has a daughter who is the apple of his eye. The comparisons are intentional, even though the movie makers have denied any resemblance.
The villain is Sen. Bob Rumson, a conservative Republican senator from, of all places, Kansas. Played by Richard Dreyfuss, he tries to twist the prez's dating into something that attacks so-called ``family values.''
Things get close to silly when the White House staff frantically tries to hide Bening from a nosy press corps who have noticed that her car was parked at the executive mansion overnight.
Likewise, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who toyed with the military in ``A Few Good Men,'' risks everything by having the film lead up to a big speech by the president about how people should let him be a real person. The message seems to be that character assassination should be abolished.
It's an unfortunate fadeout to a movie that is a real delight when it sticks to romantic comedy. Forget about politics, which most of us would like to do anyway, and enjoy. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``The American President''
Cast: Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J.
Fox
MPAA rating: PG-13 (some language and a White House sleepover)
Mal's rating: Three stars
Locations: Chesapeake Square, Greenbrier in Chesapeake; Janaf,
Main Gate in Norfolk; Commodore in Portsmouth; Kemps River,
Lynnhaven 8, Pembroke, Surf-N-Sand in Virginia Beach
by CNB