Dave

The Prisoner of Zenda. Moon over Parador. The Man in the Iron Mask. A look-alike impersonates a national leader. This idea has been used before. Heck, Robert Heinlein won the Hugo award almost 60 years ago with this old gag in his book Double Star.

But Kevin Kline gives it wide-eyed freshness as a likable nobody who finds himself playing the U.S. president and romancing the first lady. And the audience gets an insider's view of Washington's corridors of power and the schemers who make their living there.

It's a far-fetched piece of whimsy, but the treatment is clever, adult, romantic and sharply satirical and the result is a winning confection of a film with beautiful comedic timing.

I think the most of the comments about this movie are fair. It is naive, improbable and, at times preachy. However, I disagree with any characterization of Kevin Kline's performance as less than great, whether he is portraying President Mitchell, standing in for him officially or doing an improv'. The segment toward the end of the film, when he and Sigourney Weaver are pulled over for the turn violation, and they do their version of "Tomorrow" from "Annie" is absolutely hilarious. This is one of those films that, for some reason or another, I keep going back to watch every so often, mainly because of its entertainment and values orientation. Our President and Congressional Delegations should care more about us than themselves. I'm still waiting, but I haven't seen that happen yet, nor have I seen a movie about the President of Slovenia. When I do I'll be sure to comment on it.

A sweet, funny movie (the kind Douglas Adams would call "mostly harmless"), with a somewhat outlandish plot, that I'm sure is probably not all that far removed from reality - given the circumstances. Definitely one of Kevin Klines best. Sigourney Weaver isn't given much of a chance, what with her role being the lesser of the couple in focus, but she does do well with her part. For obvious reasons 'Dave' gets somewhat political, but all in all it seem to never actually pick sides, not to any greater extent anyway. Instead it rather seem to suggest that bureaucracy in general is an obstacle, a hindrance to really getting something done. Charles Grodin, in a smaller part, does what Charles Grodin always does best - shows up every now and then and brings the Funny.

Bob Mitchell is the typical US president. Dodgy, rich, adulterous, you know the rest. Whilst he is supposed to attend a function he uses a double, the nice guy Dave Kovic, as a stand-in so he can spend the night with his secretary. However, after he suffers a massive stroke, he lapses into a coma, his chief of staff and chief scriptwriter however are intertwined in a corruption scandal and if the vice president takes over they will be scuppered. So rather than do that they decide to keep using the stand-in to maintain the illusion that the president is just fine.

Not having suffered the rise to power that many politicians go through Dave isn't blinded by just running things the way they always have been and can see the many wrong decisions that politicians make simply to keep the status quo and, after tiring of simply following the orders of the chief of staff, decides to do what so few US presidents do, and make things better for the working man.

To this and the last decade Gary Ross is what Frank Capra was to the thirties and forties, with a variety of feel good films that challenge are ideas about what the world is and what it should be. The script for this film is dynamite with a ton of great touches, including Dave's changing from Presidential script reader to tourist as he spots a souvenir. The film manages to stride in between the dangerous path of a hard right "Eastwood-Esque" take on things and the ultra-liberal path that someone like Redford would focus on. Instead the film manages to put itself in the minds of the ordinary Joe, who watches in disbelief at the stupid things that the powers that be spend money on, when so many problems still go on without being addressed at all, with sound bites like "You can't solve problems by throwing money at them" (How come it's only the wealthy that say that?)

The performances are all first rate with Kevin Kline magnificent as the idealistic Dave Kovic thrown into the deep end after becoming the leader of the free world, Frank Langella and Alan Reed also excel as the Chief of staff and Chief scriptwriter, with Charles Grodin stealing the scene as the put upon Murray who takes on various people from Dave's temp agency when he is stuck finding work for people elsewhere. The direction is nothing special but succeeds in telling the story with humour and sadness that very often the people who get the top job have so little knowledge of the people at the bottom to make any significant change in society.

First rate, and far better than the IMDb rating suggests. Also watch out for a great end gag. Top drawer.

"Dave" is actually a remake of a movie originally filmed a few decades ago, but the knock on remakes hardly applies to this film.

A strong cast and a heart warming story provide entertainment value throughout this movie, and Kevin Kline's dual role as the corrupt President and the struggling employment agency owner is another in the long list of examples of his versatility.

"Dave" makes you wish that a dose of common sense could actually enter into the picture in our federal government, but of course that element of the film makes it the biggest fantasy effort of all time. LOL

This is one of the few movies I will watch any time it comes on, and I enjoy it just as much every time I see it.