Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 9-January-11
Spoiler Rating: Medium

Dave (1993)

The White House fantasy Dave is an excellent vehicle for actor Kevin Kline. Playing salt-of-the-earth small businessman Dave Kovic, Kline is able to flex his comedic muscles while letting his intelligence shine through. This is because Dave, who looks just like the United States President, agrees to stand in for a five-minute security stint and ends up occupying the Oval Office for weeks. The fish-out-of-water aspect of his experience is funny, but pulling it off requires finesse. Kline also gets to dip into the dark side as the President, who has a brief introduction as an S.O.B. before suffering a stroke atop one of his secretaries. After the Chief of Staff (Frank Langella) and Communications Director (Kevin Dunn) convince Dave to front a coverup, aided by a Secret Service agent (Ving Rhames), he morphs from a pawn of corrupt ambition into a champion of the common man.

Much of what happens in Dave is scary or ludicrous, but since these adjectives can be applied to politics and federal government, this doesn't stop the movie from working. As the Chief of Staff frames the Vice President (Ben Kingsley) for fraud to pave his own path to the presidency, Dave's enthusiasm and good humor win over the American people, who don't realize that the real President is lying in a coma in a White House sub-basement. Politicians and news correspondents (many played by themselves) marvel at the chief's new attitude. This spurs the impostor to think that he can make his country happy in more than superficial ways. (Dave is a good reminder of the superficiality of image in the television age.) His awakening coincides with his getting to know the First Lady (Sigourney Weaver), who has long detested her husband and is baffled by his sudden interest in anything besides himself. When, in his first independent exercise of power, Dave rewrites the national budget to allow funding for a homeless shelter, she knows that an extraordinary change has taken place. The ensuing romance rings true because Weaver, like her co-star, conveys maturity and intelligence while remaining in on the joke.

Director Ivan Reitman's unhurried style accords with Kline's own to ensure that the overall effect is light. Dave is the consummate American fantasy: it honors the national white lie that anybody could be president and supposes that common sense might triumph in any situation.

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