Traffic (2000)
Directed by Steven Soderbergh

I like movies with lots of good character actors, and this one has the additional benefit of some very realistic scenes of cocaine usage. The cinematography is as good as American film gets, and even the overexposed leads (Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones) give plausible performances. Steven Soderbergh does soften the grit a bit with a rather tepid ending, but mostly Traffic is excellent and uncompromising.

Benicio Del Toro is at his peak here, and you can't go wrong with Don Cheadle and Miguel Ferrer. I am beginning to oppose Luis Guzmán just on principle; he is becoming just the sort of built-in punchline in Hollywood films that Ron Jeremy is in the porn world. You see Luis Guzmán and you know something funny is going to happen. Well, I'm a little tired of it, personally.

Also, I'm more and more skeptical of Topher Grace. I can't put my finger on it, maybe it's just that his nervous rambling shtick is getting a little old. He's good in this film, but I just figured I'd put out the warning: keep it up, kid, and you're gonna be filed alongside Yahoo Serious and all the other one-note hornblowers.

Benjamin Bratt puts in a fantastic cameo; Salma Hayek puts in an unnecessary one; Dennis Quaid simply needs to go away. Actually, maybe if Dennis Quaid were to be hideously scarred in some kind of fire, he could get back in my good graces. Wow, I am pretty unrelenting in my unfocused animus.

The plot is about cocaine, and I love pretty much any movie involving cocaine. Here are some others: Blow, Boogie Nights, Goodfellas. This is not to be confused with movies made because of cocaine. Here are some of those: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Xanadu, Can't Stop the Music.

Review by Iris I. Gregory