फर्स्ट डॉटर

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.

Despite it being an interesting concept, it was quite poorly executed. While the plot twist did make it more interesting, little care was given to the 'solution' of the issue in the film,making the conclusions that the characters come to seem abrupt and out of place. Furthermore, I simply could not see any chemistry between the couple at all, making it hard to root for them.

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.

The best parts of this movie - in my estimation is watching Katie Holmes run around with that tiny blue bikini on, and do the table dance with the blonde wig on. Other than that - it could have been much better. I thought the combo of Michael Keaton and Katie would have made this movie much improved over Chasing Liberty (I also thought that movie was mediocre at best). But in the end, this movie was just okay. The ending was very disappointing also. There was no resolution except that she's got her whole life in front of her. I still consider Wonder Boys and Pieces of April as Katie's best work. I hope she's got something really redeeming up next. I'd hate for her to fall under the Ben Affleck curse (good looking, made some good movies, but then started making tons of terrible ones). We can only hope.

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.