Review of Traffic

Soderbergh has the well-deserved reputation of making his players appear at their best in very successful movies : The reason why most stars agree to be in his films with drastic cuts off of their usual salaries, and which rendered possible the filmings of OCEAN 11 & 12,- otherwise unsolvable financial problems. Apparently, it was the same (but on a smaller level) with TRAFFIC, budgeted at a reasonable $48millions, with Michael Douglas being paid $10 millions instead of his customary 20. Anyhow, as usual, the result was satisfactory for the actors who were granted together the 2001 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture (first billed only : Steven Bauer - Benjamin Bratt - James Brolin - Don Cheadle -Erika Christensen - Clifton Collins Jr. - Benicio Del Toro -Michael Douglas -Miguel Ferrer - Albert Finney - Topher Grace -Luis Guzmán -Amy Irving - Tomas Milian - D.W. Moffett - Dennis Quaid - Peter Riegert - Jacob Vargas -Catherine Zeta-Jones ). However, the level of excellency is somewhat different among the players: I may be mistaken, or biased, but I sort them as follows: - Outstanding: Erika Christensen - Excellent: Topher Grace - Benicio del Toro (but perhaps not a performance of Oscar caliber, maybe it was the year for satisfying the Latino moviegoers...still I must admit that many many people think differently), Miguel Ferrer, Luis Guzman, Don Cheadle, Tomas Millan, Steven Bauer, Jacob Vargas, Clifton Collins Jr, plus Marisol Padilla Sanchez

• Good - A surprisingly old -looking Michael Douglas, Amy Irving, Catherine Zeta-Jones

• Underused : Albert Finney, James Brolin, Peter Riegert, D.W. Moffett, Dennis Quaid, Salma Hayek.

Note: Amy Irving (Erika Christensen's mother) is depicted as a former drug addict- which is perhaps a mistake, as drug addiction does not systematically run in the blood