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Traffic

The last film on our list is going to highlight Michael Douglas playing a politician who could never exist in real life: an honest-to-goodness saint. In the 2000 film Traffic, directed by Steven Soderbergh, Douglas plays the complete opposite: a politician who talks big and does nothing of consequence. Granted, both characters want to do good; the difference is that Traffic is far more clear-eyed and realistic about how things work in Washington, D.C. Douglas plays Robert Wakefield, who’s just been appointed the drug czar by the President when the film begins. Wakefield, like most Frank Capra idealists, wants to make change in the world and win the war on drugs. It’s never easy to do so, and it’s especially difficult for Wakefield, as he discovers that his wholesome daughter is getting addicted to drugs under his very nose.

Douglas gets to play Wakefield as one of his prototypical down-to-his-last-straw characters, a man who ends up being pushed to the breaking point. Wakefield starts out not just as an idealist, but as someone who has no idea how the world he wants to control works. By the time he goes to get his daughter and give her the help she needs, he realizes that the world is a darker place. In some ways, the storyline he has in the multilayered ensemble piece is a bit contrived - well, of COURSE his daughter would be on drugs while he’s trying to fight the war on drugs - but Douglas is one of the most dedicated performers in the film (and make no mistake, the performances are all pretty much top-notch), so he’s able to sell even the most hackneyed premise.

The American President

We’re only days away from the release of The Social Network, one of the most anticipated films of 2010. It’s from director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin, a profile of, essentially, how Facebook was created and who got destroyed in the process. Sorkin’s career looks to be heading upward very soon, as all of the early raves for The Social Network have taken specific note of Sorkin’s dialogue. Of course, it’s no surprise, as Sorkin has shown a talent for dialogue in television, on Broadway, and in previous films such as A Few Good Men and The American President. The latter film stars Douglas as a Bill Clinton-esque idealist President who falls for an even more clear-eyed lobbyist, played by Annette Bening. Douglas and Bening have great chemistry, but Douglas also does very well with Sorkinese dialogue.

The major rivalry in the film plays between Douglas’ President Andrew Shepard and a conservative Presidential nominee, Robert Rumson (played by Richard Dreyfuss, who does better pretending to be a Dick Cheney type here than he did playing Dick Cheney in W.). The climax comes in a speech he gives to the press corps and the entire country. Of course, the film’s premise - that the world would be so fascinated by a President having an innocuous relationship with a woman - is crazy stuff straight from the Frank Capra playbook. Having said that, the movie is charming, features many great Sorkin touches (the walk-and-talk from The West Wing was perfected here), and Douglas plays a sharp, smart President, someone you’d want to be your Commander in Chief. It’s probably his most honest, true, and innocent role, but Douglas is nothing if not versatile in the film.

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