There's the burgeoning onscreen romance between Barack and Michelle, but then there's the love story that the movie's existence both implies and tries to feed - the romance between Obama and the American public. The film was written and directed by Richard Tanne (this is his first feature), who researched the Obamas' first date with no help from the first family, piecing together as many details as he could from the historical record and making up the rest. The voice is different, but there's a sort of resemblance, not to mention an uncanny assumption of Obama's manner - a combination of blitheness, deadpan humor and sureness of reason and observation. In the scene, Obama's audience starts off angry that their request for a community center has been turned down by the city government. [...] Obama, in a speech very much in his signature style, invites the audience to let go of anger and judgment and to imagine the city's rationale. [...] they're not really going to have a hint of it for another 10 years.