Traffic (R, 2000)

In TRAFFIC, a hard-line judge is selected as the president's new general in the war on drugs. Front-line cops in Mexico and the US go after the small-time distributors and try to make cases against the sources of the drugs. A pampered wife, pregnant with her second child, finds out that her husband's legitimate businesses are just a front for his real import -- cocaine. And the judge's teenage daughter becomes a heroin addict.

Director Steven Soderbergh ably keeps these stories on track, cutting back and forth to let them provide context and contrast for each other, and using different color palettes to help keep them straight. There are also some good lines. But despite a first-rate all-star cast, the stories never connect or illuminate.

Overall, the move feels flat and a little formulaic, almost like one of those old Dragnet" episodes about the dangers of drugs. The script moves the characters around like chess pieces. Packing so many stories in so little time requires a lot of narrative short-cuts like coincidences and stereotypes. The Zeta Jones character switches from innocent and doe-eyed to commanding and vicious faster than you can say "Michael Corleone." Individual scenes have some tension and some fine performances (especially by Benecio del Toro and Don Cheadle as cops), but the overall impact is muted.