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Traffic (2000)

TOMATOMETER

AUDIENCE SCORE

Critic Consensus: Soderbergh successfully pulls off the highly ambitious Traffic, a movie with three different stories and a very large cast. The issues of ethics are gray rather than black-and-white, with no clear-cut good guys. Terrific acting all around.


Movie Info

A patchwork of stories that evokes the high-stakes, high-risk world of the drug trade, as seen through a series of inter-related stories, some are highly personal, some are filled with intrigue and danger. A Mexican policeman finds himself caught in a web of corruption; A pair of undercover DEA agents work in the sordid and dangerous world of San Diego dealers; a wealthy drug baron living in upscale, suburban America is arrested and learns how quickly his unknowing and pampered wife takes over … More

Rating: R (for pervasive drug content, strong language, violence and some sexuality)
Genre: Drama
Directed By:
Written By: Stephen Gaghan
In Theaters:
On DVD: May 29, 2001
Box Office: $123.8M
Runtime:
USA Films - Official Site

Cast


as Eduardo

as Barbara

as Chief of Staff

as Carlos Ayala

as Manolo Sanchez

as General Arturo Salaz...

as Porfilio Madrigal

as Jeff Sheridan

as General Ralph Landry

as Pablo Obregon

as Madrigal's Mistress ...

as F.-Up Bowman

as David Ayala

as Himself

as Himself

as Himself

as Francisco Flores

as Himself

as Prosecutor Ben Willi...

as Customs Official

as Tigrillo/Obregon Ass...

as Agent Hughes

as Agent Johnson

as Director of EPIC

as Assistant Director o...

as DEA Representative

as Rehab Counselor

as Tourist Woman

as Tourist Man

as Partygoer No. 1

as Lobbyist

as Economist

as Partygoer No. 2

as Partygoer No. 3

as Partygoer No. 4

as Salazar Soldier

as Salazar Soldier

as Salazar Soldier

as Social Worker

as Judge Reed

as ADA Dan Collier

as Arrested Man in Apar...

as Tackled Man No. 1

as Tackled Man No. 2

as Witness No. 1

as Witness No. 2

as Man on Street

as Polygraph Adminsitra...

as Polygraph Assistant

as Mrs. Castro

as Waiter No. 1

as Waiter No. 2

as Press Secretary

as Ayala Security

as Meeting Leader

as Helena's Friend

as Helena's Friend

as Helena's Friend

as Helena's Friend

as Desert Truck Driver

as Desert Truck Driver

as Salazar Soldier/Tort...

as Salazar Soldier No. ...

as Lawyer Rodman

as State Capitol Report...

as State Capitol Report...

as DEA Agent CalTrans

as DEA Agent CalTrans

as DEA Agent CalTrans

as DEA Agent CalTrans

as DEA Agent CalTrans

as DEA Agent, Trailer

as DEA Agent, Trailer

as DEA Agent, Trailer

as Ruiz's Assistant

as Van Driver

as Van Passenger

as DEA Agent, Public St...

as DEA Agent, Public St...

as DEA Agent, Public St...

as DEA Agent, Public S...

as DEA Agent, Public St...

as DEA Agent, Public St...

as DEA Agent, Public St...

as DEA Agent, Public St...

as DEA Agent, Public St...

as DEA Agent, Public St...

as DEA Agent, Public St...

as DEA Agent, Public St...
Show More Cast

News & Interviews for Traffic

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Critic Reviews for Traffic

All Critics (160) | Top Critics (40)

I don't see this slightly better-than-average drug thriller, with slightly better-than-average direction by Steven Soderbergh, as anything more than a routine rubber-stamping of genre reflexes.

Full Review… | May 18, 2008
Chicago Reader
Top Critic

The promise of Sex, Lies, and Videotape has been fulfilled.

Full Review… | April 27, 2007
New York Observer
Top Critic

It's wise about different kinds of addiction and concepts of family, about the folly, futility and hypocrisy of anti-drug 'wars', and about the awful human cost of it all. And it grips like a vice from start to end.

Full Review… | June 24, 2006
Time Out
Top Critic

Director Steven Soderbergh is riding one of the hottest streaks in the movie world.

Full Review… | April 25, 2003
Globe and Mail
Top Critic

It is such a complex film yet artfully done in such a way that you cannot help but sit back and admire it.

Full Review… | July 30, 2012
7M Pictures

A little masterpiece, at best, but for any other filmmaker, this would be a career highlight, while it's also easy to see how most other filmmakers would turn it into a dull, obvious harangue.

Full Review… | July 9, 2012
Antagony & Ecstasy

Audience Reviews for Traffic

½

An always engaging and expertly edited multi-character drama that presents a grim portrait about the war on drugs and understands that there are no easy solutions for this complex problem. But Soderbergh also exaggerates in his blatantly unsubtle, didactic photography.

blacksheepboy
Carlos Magalh�es

Super Reviewer

½

A dark, unsettling, informative story interweaving three different casts of characters on how the drug trade effects all hierarchies and cultures. Steven Soderbergh has constructed a near-masterpiece of a film and one of the best films about drugs ever. The way he connects all three stories, and details his characters and gives each one many dimensions is simply stunning. The color schemes he uses for each story is definitely different but effective, and the way he concludes each one is impressive. There are some parts that feel a little Hollywoodized, but asides from these brief instances, this is a near-flawless film that deserves to be seen by anyone interested in the drug trade and just how deadly it is in all of society.

Dan Schultz
Dan Schultz

Super Reviewer

Traffic is one of those films that transcends the process and the art of filmmaking and becomes something else entirely. It defines experimental filmmaking at its finest and excels at everything in every way possible. Starring an amalgam of talent from Benicio Del Toro, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas, Miguel Ferrer, Luis Guzman, Don Cheadle and Dennis Quaid, with even small bit parts by Albert Finney, Benjamin Bratt, Topher Grace, Salma Hayek and James Brolin. Absolutely unbelievable, and they all give top notch performances. Steven Soderbergh's choice to film the three stories in three different ways using different lenses, filters, film stocks and photochemical procresses gives the film its identity as a living, breathing thing and not just another film. One of my favorite filmmakers working today, Steven Soderbergh always surprises me and keeps me interested in his work, which makes him incredibly appealing to filmmakers.

FilmFanatik
Tim Salmons

Super Reviewer

Traffic Quotes

– Submitted by Jean R (2 years ago)
– Submitted by Chris P (4 years ago)
– Submitted by Chris P (4 years ago)

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