प्रोटोकॉल

This is a feel-good movie and nothing more. And for that, it is great fun to watch. Sure it skims over political issues. But so what? I am sure she wasn't trying to make 'Good Night and Good Luck' here. Let's not try to make it anything else but what it is...light fare.

And very enjoyable at that!

Do we remember what 1984 was like? We've become very sophisticated according to the media as far as what we watch or not. I tend to differ on this point. Goldie knew this was fun-fluff and she went ahead and did it.

Like her lightest fare: Protocol, Overboard, Housesitter, Wildcats, Private Benjamin, Seems Like Old Times, Foul Play, Death Becomes Her, First Wives Club and the remake of Out-of-Towners, GOLDIE knows what she is doing...she plays every role for the camp that you can get out of it! Goldie just knows herself really well, and she knows what she can do really well.

She has always made me laugh cheerfully and innocently. I loved her in Laugh-In and every thing she's ever been in. She has never tried to be anything else but who she is...and that's that bubbling, giggly, girl next door who happens to be very pretty and has a smile and a laugh that will always endear me and remind me that life is pretty short and you've just got to lighten up because before you know it...you are old, wrinkled and suffering from one of life's inevitable ailments. If it even comes that late.

I appreciate Goldie for what she is: a lovable, comic actress.

If the Sultan of Brunei ever saw this film it would be banned in Brunei and who's to say he hasn't seen it. Clearly the Moslem potentate on whom Robert Romanus's character is based is him, a person with large appetites for pleasure. If eating was his number one thing he'd be the late King Farouk of Egypt.

But this is a man who likes to keep his harem filled and while on a visit to the USA he's nearly assassinated but for the intervention of plucky cocktail waitress Goldie Hawn. The girl becomes an instant celebrity with her infectious and sunny personality. In fact that's Goldie's character name, Sunny Ann Davis.

She lives in Washington, DC a place of power and intrigue and with Romanus intrigued with her, some would be power brokers in our State Department decide she is just the person with the right leverage with Romanus to negotiate a treaty for an American base in his country. And what do we give him in return?

All I can say there is Goldie is hardly the type to assume a woman's place in a Moslem country.

Protocol is a one woman show for Goldie Hawn and she delivers in style. Also delivering nice performances are a pair of State Department connivers who dream up this scheme, Ed Begley,Jr., and Gail Strickland. They contrast with Chris Sarandon who resigns the Department rather than be a marriage broker. Hawn and Sarandon are like Judy Holliday and William Holden from Born Yesterday. At least you like to think Billie Dawn might have used her celebrity there the way Hawn uses it in Protocol.

Nicely done Goldie Hawn. You really do speak to the average American here.

A pretty average movie but a brave one from Ms Hawn to promote this vehicle as Exec Producer & as a starring vehicle. Although she ends up vindicated, she is willing to portray herself as the dizzy bimbo. How many other A listed actresses have subjected themselves to butt injury pratfalls since this movie? Not many. Does this mean the female butt cannot be funny? Goldie surpasses other actresses as she has maintained a screen persona & ventures in projects other won't. Sandra Bullock occasionally goes there,for example, Miss Congeniality but Nicole Kidman would never cop the pratfall. A wonderful performer. Great to see some of my favorite actors, Chris Sarandon & Cliff DeYoung notably.

If you like Goldie Hawn, you might like this story about a wide-eyed girl who happens to foil an assassination, then--because of her folksy charm--is hired by the Dept. of Protocol.

"Protocol" is a comedy with a moral. It's nearly impossible to miss the parallels with "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and, even more "Born Yesterday", (in which Judy Holliday plays the Washington neophyte who finds that civic duty requires her to educate herself in the basics of politics). Goldie plays the part of Sunny with her usual plucky charm. She is surrounded by a sharp cast, but she carries the film as she does most of her films. The writing, by Buck Henry, takes shots at the media, the government, foreign affairs, and the office of the Vice President. Its style is somewhat reminiscent of Elaine May.

Overall, this film is lightweight, even with its serious call for self-education in government affairs. It is not Ms. Hawn's best, but amusing nonetheless.

Goldie Hawn vehicle that starts out well falters half way through and ends in too simplistic a fashion. The problem is also is that the story is written and based on "Private Benjamin" formula. It worked there, not here.