The best and worst movie presidents

Best: James Marshall (Harrison Ford) in "Air Force One"
Not only does Ford's President Marshall not negotiate with terrorists, he also doesn't take kindly to them hijacking his plane, either. When the zealous Soviet ultranationalist Ivan Korshunov (Gary Oldman) takes over Air Force One with a team of heavily armed compatriots, the commander-in-chief must become the buttkicker-in-chief in order to save his family and everyone on board the 747.

Worst: Richard Nixon (Robert Wisden) in "Watchmen"
The paranoid, scandal-plagued President Nixon was bad enough for two terms in real life, but what about his alternate reality counterpart who was POTUS well into the 1980s? In the superhero-filled world of "Watchmen," Richard Nixon repealed the 22nd amendment and was elected to the office of the president for five terms — thanks to the convenient and highly suspicious deaths of journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who in real life exposed the Watergate scandal.

Best: Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman) in "Independence Day"
One might think that presiding over the near-extinction of the human race due to an alien invasion would qualify President Whitmore for the worst list. But if you think that, then you definitely didn't hear the former fighter pilot's rousing 11th hour speech at the end of "Independence Day." The United States is being picked apart by aliens, the first lady is dead, and Whitmore still has it in him to give one bad-ass speech and fly a fighter jet in a last-ditch battle to save the human race. Now that's presidenting!

Worst: The President (Billy Bob Thorton) in "Love Actually"
This leering creep of a president was clearly a low-blow aimed at then prez George W. Bush. Billy Bob's nameless (and married) U.S. president travels to the United Kingdom for high stakes negotiations with the British P.M. (Hugh Grant), but takes time out of his busy schedule to try put the moves on Downing Street staffer Natalie (Martine McCutcheon), whom the single Prime Minister has feelings for. The actions of the male chauvinist P.O.T.U.S. spur the P.M. to throw in the towel on the "special relationship" between the U.S. and the U.K.

Best: William Harrison/Dave Kovic (Kevin Kline) in "Dave"
This comedic remake of Akira Kurosawa's "Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior" sees everyman (and part-time presidential impersonator) Dave Kovic replace sitting president William Harrison after the P.O.T.U.S. suffers a severe stroke. The Ivan Reitman-directed comedy sees Kline cheekily answer the question of "What would you do if you became president?"

Worst: Alan Richmond (Gene Hackman) in "Absolute Power"
Things get heavy for master thief Luther Whitney (Clint Eastwood) after he accidentally witnesses the secret service killing the mistress of a drunk President Richmond. A principled criminal, Whitney tries to expose the president's involvement in the murder, but his job is obviously complicated by the fact that he was committing a very serious crime himself when he witnessed the killing. Richmond and his staff do everything in their power to stop Whitney, even if it means resorting to murder once again.

Best: Tom Beck (Morgan Freeman) in "Deep Impact"
Full credit to President Obama for winning a second term, but as far as movie fans are concerned, Morgan Freeman's President Tom Beck was the real first African-American P.O.T.U.S. Somehow the news of a killer comet on a collision course with Earth didn't sound so bad when delivered in the dulcet tones of Freeman's distinctive and comforting voice. Beck wins bonus points for spearheading the space mission to stop the comet, which had mixed but mostly positive results, in that it saved the majority of the human race.

Worst: Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers) in "Doctor Strangelove"
The hilariously-named fictional 1960s president was one of three characters played by British Comedian Peter Sellers in Stanley Kubrick's cold war satire. When a rogue American general launches an unauthorized nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, Muffley convenes in the underground war room to discuss America's options. Some consider Muffley a dithering wuss of a P.O.T.U.S., but it's more likely that he just suffered from having bad advice. Muffley spends most of the movie in the bunker having arguments with the flag-waving General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) and insane former Nazi scientist Dr. Strangelove (also played by Sellers) — arguments that provide plenty of comedy but also result in the mutually assured destruction of the U.S. and U.S.S.R.

Best and Worst: Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho (Terry Crews) in "Idiocracy"
Five-time Ultimate Smack Down champion, porn superstar, and President of the United States, Camacho is the leader of America in the not-so-bright future of 2505. Only in a world where the average IQ is in the twenties, crops are irrigated with energy drinks, and the most popular show on TV is "Ow! My balls!" could a ridiculous human being like Camacho ever become president. Upon discovering that cryo-frozen Army corporal Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson) is the smartest man on the planet, Camacho enlists Bauers' to help fix the problem-plagued country within a week, or else be sentenced to death by demolition derby.