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The nation's new drug czar (Douglas) is making his debut speech, droning on about battling narcotics and the need for new programs. He stops suddenly in mid-sentence, tries to start again and then, shaking his head wearily as he thinks of his own addicted teenage daughter, says, "If there is a war on drugs, then many of our family members are the enemy. And I don't know how you wage war on your own family."
This is just one of many powerful scenes in Traffic, a complex, compelling ensemble drama about the morass that is the drug problem in this country today. Working at the top of his game and with a superior cast, director Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich) vividly presents several distinct but interconnected stories. There's Douglas, who learns the hard way that fighting drugs begins at home; a wealthy Southern California matron (Zeta-Jones) who discovers upon his arrest that her businessman husband (Steven Bauer) is really a drug dealer; a Mexican policeman (Del Toro) who tries to find a way out of the corruption surrounding him; and two dedicated Drug Enforcement Administration officers (Cheadle and Luis Guzman) attempting to nail Bauer.
While there is an almost documentary feel to much of Traffic, the movie is never preachy. Rather, it seems resigned, taking satisfaction in small victories—the junkie who reforms, the cop who stays straight. As a drug dealer (Miguel Ferrer) says mockingly to the agents who arrest him, "You realize the futility of what you're doing and yet you do it anyway." (R)
Bottom Line: Just say yes
George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, Michael Badalucco
Clark Gable is back, and Clooney has him—down cold, that is, with an amusing, dead-on impression of the fast-talking matinee idol in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the latest artfully wacky comedy by the brothers Coen. (Joel directed, Ethan produced, and both wrote the script.)
O Brother takes as its inspiration Homer's Odyssey, tracking the long journey home of Ulysses Everett McGill (Clooney), an escapee from a chain gang, who is making his way back to his wife (Hunter) through Depression-era rural Mississippi. Along the way the garrulous Ulysses and his dim-witted convict companions (Turturro and Nelson) encounter all manner of strangers, including a buxom trio of backwoods sirens, a one-eyed Bible salesman (Goodman), bank robber Baby Face Nelson (Badalucco) and Ku Klux Klan members whose marching routines at a rally rival any created by Busby Berkeley.
The movie is immensely enjoyable and boasts a loose-limbed charm, but little of it stays with you afterward. That said, Clooney gives a wonderfully dapper performance, and O Brother boasts a glorious soundtrack bursting with old traditional that will have you heading for the record store as soon as the credits roll. (PG-13)
Bottom Line: Overflows with comic Southern discomfort
>All the Pretty Horses It's dang purty, but there's not much else nice to say about this botched adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's prize-winning novel. Matt Damon is a teenage Texas cowpoke who heads to Mexico to work as a ranch hand. Penélope Cruz plays Damon's love interest, but the two have zilch chemistry. (PG-13)
Cast Away It's a pleasure watching a terrific actor like Tom Hanks—as the lone survivor of a plane crash on an uninhabited Pacific island—make fire, forage for food and talk to a volleyball. Despite its pat ending, belongs on your must-see list. (PG-13)
Chocolat Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche star in a whimsical romantic comedy about a French village where folks go nuts over confectioner Binoche's chocolates. Too sweet for our taste. (PG-13)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Pure magic. Movies should transport you and this one does: to ancient China and a world filled with dazzling martial artistry and romance. Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh star. (PG-13)
The Family Man Formulaic Christmas comedy has Nicolas Cage on cruise control as a Manhattan mogul playboy who wakes up one morning to discover himself stuck in a parallel existence where—the horror, the horror—he's a married suburban dad in New Jersey. Téa Leoni shines, however, as his spirited wife. (PG-13)
The House of Mirth Gillian Anderson (X-Files) triumphs as Lily Bart, the tragic heroine of this splendid, heartbreaking film version of Edith Wharton's 1905 novel about a single woman making her way in New York society. (PG)
Miss Congeniality This comedy-drama stars Sandra Bullock as an FBI agent who goes undercover at a beauty pageant. It's no masterpiece, but it sure triggers a lot of laughs. Benjamin Bratt and Michael Caine (as a temperamental makeover artist) costar. (PG-13)
What Women Want Mel Gibson plays a skirt-chasing ad exec in Chicago who can read women's minds, including new boss Helen Hunt's. Never quite as funny as it tries (too hard) to be. (PG-13)
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
