A DVD review from the Movie Snob:

The American President. (F) I could never bring myself to spend money to see this 1995 Rob Reiner film, but when That Guy Named David bought the DVD I went ahead and borrowed it from him to see if it had any entertainment value at all. The answer turned out to be no, it is a 115-minute political advertisement. In the movie, a left-of-center president is three years into his first term and struggling to come up with some sort of legislative achievement to build up some momentum going into an election year. Did I mention this movie was released in 1995? Anyway, I went into the movie fully resigned that the tale would be told from a political perspective I do not share, but I had some hope that at least the relationship aspect of the story would be worth watching. Personally, I found that side of the movie as stilted and painful as the infamous “romantic” scenes from Star Wars Episode II. In short, watching this movie was a nearly complete waste of time, although it was interesting to see that Martin Sheen was a Democratic president’s chief of staff before he ascended to the Oval Office himself on TV’s The Left Wing. I was also surprised to see a brief appearance by Taylor Nichols, who appeared in all three movies by my favorite director, Whit Stillman. Conclusion: I am glad I never spent money to see this movie.