"Perhaps I didn't properly explain the fundamentals of the slowdown plan"

[meddow]

Right now it feels like I'm the only person in the whole world who hasn't seen the new Star Trek movie. Seems like half the posts on my flist right now are of people raving on about how good it is. I wanna go see it, but I'm waiting until cheap ticket day Tuesday.

So I'm going to talk about a completely different movie. Last night I watched my favourite romcom in the whole wide world – The American President. I own it, and I've seen it so many times now over the years that Martin Sheen playing the Chief of Staff and not the President in an Aaron Sorkin scripted work no longer weirds me out. Anyway, outside of West Wing fans, there's really not enough love of the movie out there, so I'm going to pimp it out a bit.

Basic premise: She's an environmental lobbyist. He's the President of the United States. He's trying to pass a crime bill and run for reelection, she's trying to get emission standards improved to help stop global warming (this movie was released in 1995, btw). They fall in love. Drama and comedy ensue (e.g. the
slow down plan.) There's also over worked White House staffers who are clearly prototypes of Leo McGarry, CJ Cregg and Sam Seaborn, the questioning of the virtue of a proportional response, and a one-dimensional evil Republican villain.

The movie wins for me because I love fictional politics (I am a RL politics junkie, but I find the stakes are too high to make it enjoyable, so I love fictional politics more), I love romcoms that are actually smart, have intelligent females at the heart of it with proper jobs and ambitions, and rely on snappy dialogue rather than tired slapstick, I love Aaron Sorkin's work and I really really love when high political offices and love stories mix (I have no idea why, I just do). Alas, romances for Prime Ministers and Presidents are is not a common. There's what – The American President, Love Actually, Battlestar Galactica and sort of The West Wing (which went through the ups and downs of Jed and Abby's marriage, which is a love story, but not really a romance)? I can't think of the top of my head think of any others.

It is a bit of sad commentary on American politics in that that the issues of emission standards and gun control at the fore of the discussion in the movie are still hotly debated topics fourteen years later. But now Obama's in power, it's not as depressing.

Anyway, I'm all happy and on a Sorkin bent because I found out that after seven years of waiting, Sports Night is being released DVD in my region. Yay!

Comments

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the new Star Trek film either. Saw State of Play (the movie version) today instead.

Also, I don't think I've seen The American President, although perhaps parts - never the whole thing anyway. It sounds cute, so will try and check it out.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

I don't want to see the movie version of State of Play until I've seen the miniseries, which annoyingly, has still not been released on DVD yet. *Sigh* Was it good?

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

I was prepared to dislike it as the mini-series is fabulous, and I didn't see how they could work six hours into two and still make it coherent, but it was very well done, and I was quite impressed.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Good to know. I know it's been getting some good reviews, but I was wondering how it would be for someone who has seen the mini.

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

Yea, as I said, I went in quite dubious, and at the end my flatmate and I looked at each other and said "oh, it was quite good actually, wasn't it?" and I know she enjoyed the series as well. I think it does stand up on its own; different tone to the series, but obvious same story with slight variations :)

[naushika.livejournal.com]

I effing love that movie. And I basically despise romcoms. But something about The American President is just fantastic. Well I guess all the points you made are what's so fantastic about it! I've also seen it too many times to count. Such a great movie!

[meddow.livejournal.com]

I'm not much for romcoms either, or at least don't really like 80% of the movies in the genre, but there is something about the movie that makes it so incredibly brilliant.

[averysmallthing.livejournal.com]

I love that movie. I caught it on AMC or somesuch recently. I love Michael J. Fox's bit about the President answering to him because he's a citizen.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

That's one of my favourite bits. He puts it in the context of the US, but really it stands the world over, it's a citizen's responsibility to question their government. It's such a good smackdown.