Product Details

• Actors: Bill Switzer, Randy Quaid, Holland Taylor, Ashley Gorrell, Martin Doyle
• Directors: Eric Champnella
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• VHS Release Date: November 21, 2000
• Run Time: 89 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004YKQP
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #50,500 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

As farfetched kid-movie story lines go, Disney's done worse: Mail to the Chief's highly improbable predicament connects viewers with eighth-grade working-class wunderkind Kenny (Holland Taylor), who accidentally strikes up an online correspondence with the out-of-touch U.S. commander in chief in an Internet chat room. Kenny taps out a message to "Average Joe"--the unlikely screen name of the president (Randy Quaid)--about how politicians "tell you what they want, not how they're going to give it to you," like in math at school, where "you can't just give the answer, you have to show your work." Sinking in an election year because he's a blowhard, the president is soon accepting face-to-face policy advice from the tuned-in teen. But Kenny's home life, meantime, is going down the tubes. What's worse, as the days tick down to the country's big decision, the president, on the advice of his stuffed-shirt advisers, abruptly cuts his ties to Kenny. The chief comes around in the end, of course, and a not entirely lame lesson about honesty and the merits of simple straight shooting is tied up in a neat little bow. Grownups not too proud to admit savoring after-school specials in their younger years will settle into this all-around entertaining movie nicely, and their like-minded kids 8 and older are apt to follow suit. --Tammy La Gorce

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Elisha Is Only In Four Scenes, November 3, 2004

By	C. Chow (Leesburg VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The only reason you're even thinking of buying this movie is because of Elisha Cuthbert. Well yes she is in this movie, but only four scenes.

The plot focuses on a junior high student who through e-mail meets the president (Randy Quad). Elisha appears in only four scenes as the first daughter. Romance springs between the two teens, but it's really just a side plot. They do not even talk or do anything else note worthy.

This film could have been much much better if the teen had woken up in the Lincoln bedroom with Elisha and then met up with her later in the Oval Office as his boss's daughter. Just like in `Old School'.

Yes Elisha is drop dead gorgeous in `Mail to the Chief' making it a MUST for die hard Elisha Cuthbert fans like myself. But be forewarned, she's only in four scenes.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mail to the Chief: Probably the best W.W.O.Disney movie!, November 9, 2000

By A Customer

I loved this movie...it's so awesome. MAIL TO THE CHIEF is about a 13-year-old kid named Kenny Witowski who lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Kenny is very good with computers, but doesn't have a lot of friends and gets bullied by a bunch of kids at his middle school. When he goes into a Chat Room and starts talking to somebody named Average Joe, he doesn't realize that he's actually chatting with the President of the United States...giving the President tips on his politic speeches. (They're having the big Presidental Election, by the way). The President wants Kenny to be his advisor when he realizes how much Kenny has helped him with his Presidental Election. So Kenny ends up meeting the President and starts advising him on his speeches...and helping him to win the Election. But when word gets out that the President is being advised by just an average person...things start to really look bad for the President...and Kenny! This is a really good movie. Watch it. It's funny, too.

5.0 out of 5 stars MAIL TO THE CHIEF, March 25, 2009

By	COOKIE "BIG SHOPPER" (LONG ISLAND,NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mail to the Chief (DVD)

I RECEIVED THIS MOVIE WITHIN 5 DAYS OF ORDERING IT. THIS IS SUCH A FUN MOVIE AND CAN BE ENJOYED BY ALL AGES.