It’s really too bad that most people will think of Traffic as “that film with Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones.”  While it’s true that the presence of the newlyweds could help the film in terms of its take at the box office, it would be wrong to dismiss Traffic as a novelty thrown on the screen simply to please Americans in search of new royalty to worship (which is what Douglas and Zeta-Jones have become now that all the good Kennedys are dead).  Besides, they never appear in one scene together.

You wouldn’t call American Beauty “that movie where Kevin Spacey jerks off in the shower” or refer to Citizen Kane as “the thing with the guy and the sled,” so don’t do the same to Traffic.  And, yes – Traffic is good enough to mention with films like Beauty and Kane.  It’s also the fourth film Steven Soderbergh has directed in less than three years (and third in just over one year) – a pretty amazing feat, considering that those films are four of the best that have been released over that same period (Out of Sight, The Limey and Erin Brockovich).

Traffic comes at you with both barrels blazing (there aren’t even any opening credits to get in the way).  Within fifteen minutes, you’ll be introduced to about a dozen major characters as you’re whisked along to six different settings.  The film bounces between three different, unrelated storylines that all have to do with drugs.

In Tijuana, Mexico, two state police officers – Javier Rodriguez (Benicio Del Toro, The Way of the Gun) and Manolo Sanchez (Jacob Vargas, Next Friday) – find themselves in the middle of a drug war between the Obregón and Madrigal families.  Both men are honest (as much as a Mexican cop can be) and are legitimately interested in stopping the flow of drugs from Mexico to the United States.  Javier and Manolo even begin taking orders from the shifty General Salazar (Tomas Milian, The Yards), who also seems intent on fighting the war against drugs.

The second thread takes place in Cincinnati, Ohio, where State Supreme Court Justice Robert Lewis (Douglas, Wonder Boys) has just been appointed by the President to head the Office of the National Drug Control Policy.  The country’s new anti-drug czar doesn’t have a clue that his own daughter (Erika Christensen) freebases smack with her prep-school classmate (Topher Grace, That ‘70s Show).

The final storyline takes place in and around San Diego, where a big-fish dealer (Miguel Ferrer, Lateline) has just been busted by two federal agents – Montel Gordon (Don Cheadle, Mission to Mars) and Ray Castro (Luis Guzmán, OZ) – and turned over his bigger-fish boss in exchange for immunity.  The boss (Steven Bauer, Primal Fear) is dragged off to prison, while his pregnant wife (Zeta-Jones, Entrapment) tries to deal with the surprise of finding out that her husband wasn’t really in the construction business after all.

Soderbergh, who also photographed the film (under the pseudonym Peter Andrews), shot each of the three stories as differently as the U.S. and Mexico handle the war on drugs (one country has meetings about the drug problem, while the other breaks the law to combat it).  The Tijuana story (which contains dialogue mostly in Spanish) is grainy, gritty and dark, while the American threads are bright and glossy.  Most of Traffic was filmed with Soderbergh wielding his own handheld camera, which gave the film a more realistic look and enabled him to pull terrific performances from each and every actor, some of whom may be competing against other Soderbergh-directed actors (from Erin Brockovich) when the award season rolls around.

It would be tough to pick a favorite story from Traffic, as each is done so well and has unique elements to enjoy.  I loved the washed-out, Three Kings look of the Tijuana story and thought that Del Toro gave the film’s best performance.  Newcomer Christensen was amazing as the drugged-out National Merit finalist with a high-profile father (a la Magnolia), and it was fun to see Zeta-Jones work her real-life pregnancy into the part and to use her Welsh accent in a film for the first time. The most enjoyable part of Traffic was realizing that there were no heroes or clearly defined good guys to root for.

Like his other films, Soderbergh uses a wide variety of music in Traffic – from Fatboy Slim to Brian Eno’s haunting “An Ending (Ascent)” which closes the film.  The score, written by Soderbergh regular Cliff Martinez, was performed by (among others) Michael Brook, Herbie Hancock and Flea (who is billed as “Master of the 4-String Electric Bassius O’Phellius”).  Traffic was filmed on location in Washington, D.C., Cincinnati, El Paso, Mexico, San Diego and even used one of the sets from The West Wing.

Traffic was written by Rules of Engagement’s Stephen Gaghan, who has also penned episodes of The Practice and NYPD Blue.  His script was adapted from a popular British television miniseries (called Traffik), which starred Julia Ormond and focused on a drug route that flowed from Pakistan to England.  The film has one of the largest casts I’ve ever seen, including an unbilled performance from Salma Hayek and appearances by several U.S. Senators, including Barbara Boxer and Orrin Hatch.

2:18 –

adult language, violence, teen drinking/drug use, brief nudity, sexual content, and frank sex talk