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Special Features
- Featurette "The Making of Dave"
Editorial Reviews
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This is definitely a movie to buy because it needs to be seen many times. The innumerable funny pearls in this movie alone are worth the price of the DVD. For Minnesotans, one of the slyest gags was Dave's gig early in the moview, imitating the President at the grand opening of Durenberger Motors in his home town. The movie was released around the time that David Durenberger (Minnesota's senior senator) was embroiled in an ethics scandal. A personal favorite moment was the scene where Dave (with the help of his accountant buddy played by Charles Grodin) pares the federal budget to save a homeless shelter for children -- the cabinet members bemusedly participating just like a family sitting around the kitchen table wrestling with its own budget. Priceless.
But my greatest admiration is for Reitman who gives every character in this movie a chance to shine. Charles Grodin being seduced by the promise of bratwurst. Ving Rhames discussing how he looks in a sweater. Ben Kingsley becoming nostalgic about how a shoe salesman became Vice President. Frank Langella humming Hail to the Chief while he forges the president's signature. The timing and subtlety of these touches makes me wonder if this is the same Ivan Reitman who did movies as unsubtle as Ghostbusters!
If national politics is getting you down, this is the perfect antidote. Lovely Washington photography, too. Kevin Kline can be my president any time!
In this, his middle film, it's the owner of a copy shop, Dave, called on to impersonate the president--a high strung cad who's just suffered a heart attack. Dave is a heck of a lot more innocent than most guys his age. Divorced, he busies himself with his work and sports, always hoping to meet the right woman.
What's groovy about this film is that it's a hip, comic American remake of the great Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha. In that film--a powerful drama with no comedy at all--a grievously ill warlord tells his vassals to find a man who resembles him as closely as possible so the warlord can instruct the other man in the ways of ruling a region; if his subjects see him alive and healthy, they'll be reassured and spies from enemy regions will know he's still a force to be reckoned with.
The vassals find a commoner whose resemblance to the warlord is so striking, there's no one else who could do the job. He's told exactly what to do, how to stand, sit, and do all the other stuff a warlord should. The same happens in Dave--he learns what to do from the evil Frank Langella, the White House press secretary. As Dave, Kevin Kline strikes the perfect balance of innocence and determination to right the wrongs so clearly in evidence. And Sigourney Weaver does a more than credible job as the first lady who's charmed by this knowledgeable innocent.
Also here are Ben Kingsley as the just as innocent Vice President (contrast this with his absolutely astounding performance in the recent Sexy Beast as a nasty rotten gangster!) and Ving Rhames, always reliable, as the secret service man who's on Dave's side all the way.
Ross is one smart cookie. Taking Kagemusha and updating it to 90s America, mixing it with big dollops of comedy and a poignant love story, was a great idea. This film really works. Take a look at Ross' other films; they're just as great.
A great flick!
quickly and in perfect condition. Read more
Dave (Kevin Kline) confesses that he's not very good at finding work for people (his... Read more
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