Dave

Ivan Reitman, USA, 1993, 110 minutes

Dave (Kevin Kline) impersonates the President of the US of A for a living. He's seen by two secret agents, who decide to use him to pose as the president (Kline again) at a dinner as a security measure. Then the president dies in compromising circumstances, and Dave is forced by the Chief of Staff (chief baddie) to go on impersonating him. While the baddies want things to go on as they did before. Dave starts to make a few decisions for himself, thereby becoming a bit of a liability to them.

While the "if only normal people ran the country everything would be all right" argument doesn't stand up, the film is so imbued with a spirit of dewy-eyed optimism that you'd have to be very cynical not to be carried along with it. Kline is excellent, both as the deeply unpleasant president and as the idealistic Dave, and Sigourney Weaver is great as the very formidable first lady. Ben Kingsley, who's a bit wasted in his role as the honest and trustworthy Vice President, isn't quite as convincing, but he's far better at villains anyway.

All in all, this is a brilliant film; funny and sincere, and it might even make you believe in the American electoral process.

Review by Katherine Edge
Taken from EUFS Programme 1995-96