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Reviews:
I’d
Rather Be In Traffic
by Michael
Flanagan
Wimpy
They said, “one of the top ten films of 200.”
They said, “A Masterpiece.”
They said, “The best film of the year.”
Who the hell are “they?”
Because I’d like to call them and ask exactly what movie they
saw. Traffic
certainly lives up to its name: It moves slowly, the scenery gets old
after a while, and you’re stuck in it for about two and a half hours
that feels like three.
It’s a drug movie that plays out like an after school special
combines with every other drug-movie you’ve ever seen.
Catherine Zeta Jones is the unsuspecting wife of a drug lord. I believe that was an NBC Movie-of-the-Week in 1986 called,
“My Husband is a Drug Lord.” Luis
Guzman and Don Cheadle play police officers chasing down drug
dealers and protecting their star witness.
Yes, the man has key information that could really help the whole
drug-bust community. And,
yes, he ends up dead. Michael
Douglas is miscast as the anti-drug political figure who finds the drug
problem with his own daughter. I
believe that is still on after school.
It’s called, “The Stereotype Show.”
Benicio Del Toro plays a Mexican cop who gets caught up in the
war on drugs. He is a
wonderful actor and he plays the part well, but his scenes are filmed in
grainy yellow; the effect is distracting rather than artistic.
And, on top of all that, there is little sound.
A car explodes at one point, which is the first time in about an
hour that something actually happens, and the sound fades away,
reducing the effect and the drama of the scene.
Traffic has a good message.
The “War on Drugs” is still not being fought appropriately.
Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” program didn’t work, but
neither is what the government is doing now.
The movie suggests that the war is blind; it places government
officials on one side or the other, effectively using them against other
drug Czars. Once the war
enters our homes, the war can’t be fought with just arrests, trials,
and death. The film doesn’t give an alternative. But don’t worry, there’s plenty of time in the movie to
think of one.
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