washingtonpost.com: 'The American President'

'The American President'

Imagine Bill Clinton as a single president with an impeccable professional and personal life. Okay, maybe that's too much to ask. Imagine a boomer-aged president who's handsome, intelligent and popular. He's also a widower and is raising a teenage daughter on his own. But he suddenly reminds you of Gary Hart when he pops up in newspapers and on TV with an attractive young woman.

Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas) has an approval rating of 63. He meets a big-gun lobbyist for an environmental bill, Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening), and the "lonely widower" is immediately smitten. Sydney is also attracted to him and gets caught up in the presidential scene.

This comedy peeks at what it would be like to date and be the President of the United States -- he has trouble doing simple things like personally sending flowers. And from the woman's side, you're dating the Most Powerful Man in the World and sometimes you can't get a moment alone without a camera, photographer or White House staff member nearby. You think regular men are bad? This one calls an evening short because he has to give the order to bomb Libya and breaks a date because he has to avert a major airline strike.

But America isn't in love with the First Couple. When the Republican presidential candidate (Richard Dreyfuss) starts attacking their characters, Shepherd's approval rating plummets to 41.

Post Stories: Read reviews from the Style and Weekend sections. Also, read David Broder's editorial about using a film to profess a liberal message or a feature on presidents and marriage.

Washington Sites: Of course, the president lives in the White House. Director Rob Reiner keeps reminding us, showing a full shot of the White House 10 times (five at night); Capitol; Washington Monument; Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Ave., NW (the GDC building where Sydney Ellen Wade worked); Greenworks Florist, Willard Hotel, 1455 Pennsylvania Ave. NW (Carmen's House of Flowers).

Not the White House: According to a number of people in the White House press office, no actual filming took place inside the president's home at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. However, director Rob Reiner did make a few visits. Thus, the China Room (or Dish Room), Oval office, the press room and other White House scenes are replicas.

It Is Washington: Lewis Rothschild (Michael J. Fox) mentions getting a steak at Sam and Harry's, which is at 1200 19th St. NW; the couple watch a TV report on WJLA-TV (Ch. 7); the report mentions the president's physical exam at Bethesda Medical Hospital; Sydney Ellen Wade talks about her frustration with DuPont Circle traffic (although in the film she was coming from Capitol Hill to the White House and wouldn't go by way of DuPont Circle); the president gives Wade the actual number to the White House switchboard, 456-1414; a photo of the president dancing with Wade is shown in the Washington Times; it seems as though the vice president does not exist.

The Washington Post: After the president and Wade dance at a state dinner at the White House, we see their photo in the Washington Times, the Los Angeles Times and USA Today -- but not The Post. Of course, these pages are pure fantasy. Virginia Rodriguez, director of public relations for The Washington Post, said that when The Post is used in a film, it must be an actual front page. "We treasure our credibility more than our publicity," Rodriguez said.

Who Are Those Guys: The film's opening scene includes a few portraits of past presidents. Those presidents in order are Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, Harry S. Truman, William Howard Taft, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Woodrow Wilson, Andrew Jackson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ulysses S. Grant, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and George Washington. You also see images of Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt in other items.

Presidents on Screen: Browse a sampling of movies from the past decade that have the President of the United States as a character.

It Couldn't Happen: The president had trouble personally buying roses for Wade. In one of the last scenes he hands her long-stem roses. She asks him how he finally managed "to get a woman flowers and be president at the same time?" His answer, "Well, it turns out I've got a Rose Garden." In the timeline of the movie, this took place in January, when no roses would bloom in the Rose Garden.

Not Quite Correct: The president tells Sydney that she is nervous about having sex with him because of who he is. He tells her that the first ladies weren't nervous having sex with the President of the United States in the White House because they had had sex with the man before he was president. Actually, three presidents got married while in office: John Tyler and Woodrow Wilson, who both became widowers while president, and Grover Cleveland, who took the oath of office as a bachelor.

Presidents and Marriage:

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