★★★★

Watched 30 Apr, 2020

As I continue to watch the development of Aaron Sorkin, I’m left in awe. Pulling off a love story is hard. Pulling off a comedy is hard. Pulling off a political drama is hard. And somehow this film does all three of those things extremely effectively. So effectively in fact that you don’t really notice that it’s doing any of these things because you’re so invested in these characters and this world. Rob Reiner helms this film in an extremely poised way. But you cannot talk about something written by Sorkin without bringing him up. This is a magnificent screenplay, one of the best I’ve ever seen in a film. Much of what Sorkin picked up in this film would go on to influence his work on The West Wing. Micheal Douglas is great in this film. Annette Benning is the highlight and her character is so beautiful in all meanings of that word. Martin Sheen stands out as well, and gives a performance that would qualify him to play President Bartlet in the West Wing, a few years down the line. This was Sorkin’s last film before he took a 12-year hiatus to work on television, and this is a brilliant film. Micheal J Fox (of Back to the Future fame) also gives his career best performance in this film. I feel like this is an underrated gem. My only criticism is that their relationship could have been developed and fleshed out a little bit more in early stages but really I’m grasping at straws. This is a great watch!