Dave

Kevin Kline: Dave/President Mitchell
Sigourney Weaver: Mrs. Michell
Frank Langella: Chief of Staff
Kevin Dunn: Communications Director
Ving Rhames: The President's assigned Secret Service agent


On paper, the plot for Dave seems pretty complex. The American president, Bill Mitchell, is a cad who tries to have affairs on the down low. The Secret Service helps him achieve that by hiring body doubles to stand in for him during those times where all he has to do is walk through a room and wave. This allows the president to sneak out the back door to get his funk on. Unfortunately, during one of his rendezvous’, the president suffers a severe stroke and collapses. While in mid-coitus. At this point, anyone who knows their US Constitution knows that the 25th Amendment should be kicking in, and the Vice President should be taking over. Turns out, the president’s Chief of Staff is a power hungry politician who has spent decades waiting to be president. Even worse, the vice president is, apparently, the last decent politician alive. The Chief of Staff knows that if the VP takes over and then the president dies, everything he and the president have worked for, illegally of course, would fall apart. So, this scheming fellow comes up with a cunning plan: ship the VP off to Africa on some good will tour, keep the fact that the president is practically dead under wraps, and have the latest body double pretend to be president. This all will go on just long enough for the VP to be taken down on false criminal charges, forcing the fake president to install a new VP, the chief of staff. Then, the real president will be allowed to die, the fake president will be allowed to fake a death, and the guy who thought up this absolutely absurd plan will become the next president of the United States. Explained like this, Dave sounds like a bad movie.

It’s not. The movie isn’t about how all those implausible things happen, or even why. Dave is about what a guy would do if he was given the chance to pretend to be president. While writing this review, I was astounded that I didn’t realize Dave was very similar to Capra's films. Everything about his life is too good. He is always upbeat, and an obsessive do-gooder. He manages a temp agency so he can help people find jobs. He cares about everyone. When he is given the opportunity to play the president, he wants to do all he can to help all Americans. In other words, he is a Good Guy. It's hard to believe that a Capra-like formula can still work after all this time. Luckily, Kevin Kline smoothly steps in as the modern day Mr. Smith. Kline seems to play Dave effortlessly. There are several moments where all he does is mug for the camera, but even that is charming. Somehow, he makes Dave's behavior of being nice and likable all the time seem normal, when we all know it isn't. Watching him try to cheer up a homeless child, shooing the media away so the kid won’t be scared, I began to wonder if there is a politician left alive that would do that.

Kevin Kline doesn't go it alone in this film, though. Sigourney Weaver gives another great performance, playing the First Lady. She and Kevin Kline have great chemistry, which is important. A significant amount of time is put into developing their relationship. There's a joke in the movie about how she didn't realize he wasn't her husband until he started noticing she was a woman. Turns out, the First Lady is a Good Woman. Perfect for a Good Guy. I don’t see this movie working nearly as well without Sigourney Weaver. Kevin Kline is forced into a role whom a lesser actor would have portrayed an idiot, and he manages to play as hopeful. The movie needed a nice, wise-to-the-world adult to play beside him to keep the movie from feeling to much like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Weaver is perfect for that role.

There are a couple of minor twists and turns, and the Bad Guy gets what’s coming to him, but most of that is done swiftly. There is one point where Dave is given a major roadblock, but he beats it down a couple of minutes later. The breezy manner in which this film is written and directed works perfectly to keep the audience from thinking too much. This is not a knock in the film, either. Not every film needs to be a high brow morality play. Dave manages to weave a message of morality into a light, charming movie.

One final note. The only reason Dave goes along with this whole thing from the beginning is because he’s told that the Vice President is insane. Well, the VP does show up in the film. My husband watched Dave for the first time last night, and his biggest reaction was to the VP’s first scene.