For me, Traffic is going to be my pick for the best film of not only the year, but the decade. Stephen Soderbergh took a large risk in making a film with a budget, with stars, and a RELEVANT story line, and to agree with another film critic, it is the best drama Hollywood has put out since The Godfather in 1972. The acting was superb, the photography (which Soderbergh shot under a pseudonym) was brilliantly shaky and colorful, and the plot was so wonderfully complex without going over the top that it is too much to explain here and do it justice. Benicio Del Toro and Michael Douglas are the real standouts in this picture, though nearly all other characters are just as complicated and lived in. Soderbergh, even before Traffic was released, was my favorite living director, and with this brilliant epic, he will surely become the same for others. For those who liked Traffic, I also recommend Soderbergh's cut and paste noir The Limey which used many of the same techniques, and it also featured the always lovable Luis Guzman, who in Traffic served with Don Cheadle as the comic relief, a witty live action Puumba of their silly duo. I loved it, every frame.