Des étoiles plein les yeux

Katie Holmes plays the president's daughter who decides to go to a normal college to have a normal college experience.

There she has to contend with room mates, drink, overly tight security, her father's presidential campaign and, of course, a boy.

As you probably expect this is wholesome light weight fodder with not too many shocks.

What is unusual is the amount of love and professionalism put into this.

Despite its rather whimsical premise the story is very lean and structured - performances are good and production is solid.

Nobody working on this expected it to win any Oscars but it is nice to see people put the effort in.

The result is a charming, fun Sunday afternoon movie that is much better than a lot of the other grandiose movies surrounding it on Netflix.

Samantha Mackenzie (Katie Holmes) has always been a sweet proper girl and the only daughter of the President (Michael Keaton). She is going off to college and the strict Secret Service protection doesn't always fit. She falls for student James Lansome (Marc Blucas). However the president is in his re-election campaign and James isn't who she thinks he is.

It's always odd to note that this was directed by Forest Whitaker, but he seems to like these light rom-coms. And this is the lightest of rom-com especially in the first half. Katie Holmes is playing a stiff character and isn't allowing the comedy to come through. The movie does improve slightly with the twist for about 15 minutes, but then it falls apart with a flat unimpressive ending.

Okay, I am very aware that this movie is pretty awful. And funny enough, I don't care for Katie Holmes or Marc Blucas. But I can't help but watch this when I'm alone and no one else knows. Michael Keaton is good as always. And even though the whole storyline is completely ridiculous, there are some very sweet moments. The biggest problem with this movie is simply the very weak script. However, the good news is that regardless of the script and some of the actors, it can't help but have some guilty charms. I don't think I would recommend this to anyone who doesn't have genuine guilty pleasures. Real ones. Like that George Lazenby is their favorite Bond. But it's a cute movie that I think younger tweens might enjoy.

The entire film seems to set up scenes that specifically in relation to teen dream perfection. The scenes don't respond or even make sense with each other, but independently they are each set up as every young girl's day dream. A slip and slide college night where a chance meeting occurs. A flight on air force one to a ball where the girls get to wear a fantastic dress. Sitting on a small boat in the middle of the lake with the boy you love while he's fishing and you're holding an umbrella to keep the sun from your eyes. It's formulaic and dull. It's perfectly fine to make a movie that targets a young age group, but it is NOT OK to make that movie as poorly and as unthoughtful as possible.

If you want to see this film but on a slightly better scale (and by better I mean that it's set internationally) then go see chasing liberty.

The plot itself - about the First daughter who went to College in Carlifornia, far away from the White House, in order to be normal and meet friends may be cliché. Yet the movie on the whole can still hand out nice surprises every now and then. Katie Holmes has a unique face and looks intelligent enough to want to be independent as well as not to disappoint the First family. More importantly, Marc Blucas (her love interest) is not like the stereotyped Prince Charming for a teenager. At least he also looks sophisticated and mature and gives a strong case why the first daughter would fall for him. The two make an attractive couple and are on the same wavelength when they share the views on science etc.

The twist in the movie, at least I didn't see it coming, is good. Considering how many such plots have appeared on screen, I must say this one at least is not as predictable and does give me some credibility as a story about real people. The President and First Lady are not given a significant part here. The young couple already is a good reason to watch the movie. The love songs that accompanied the ball room dances are pleasant and well-chosen. If "monster-in-law" is rated 5 out of 10 here (last time I check), then "the First Daughter" deserves at least a 6.5 or 7, for its creativity and credible performance by the leading couple.

I also hope that Marc Blucas has great roles in future movies for his refreshing looks and performance.