Dave Kovic is a nice guy who runs an employment agency in
Washington DC. He is a man who cannot rest when one of his
clients needs a job, but is otherwise undistinguished . . .
except that he happens to look exactly like the president of
the United States, Bill Mitchell. When the president wants
to sneak away for a quickie with his mistress, Dave is
thrilled to be recruited by the Secret Service to act as a
stand-in. But then the president unexpectedly has a fatal
stroke, and the White House chief of staff, evil genius Bob
Alexander, decides to use Dave as a permanent front man in
order to avoid turning over the reins of power to the kind
and decent vice president, Charles Nance.
Dave dimly understands that this is wrong, but allows
himself to be persuaded, and settles into the role of
president with great gusto and enjoyment. The only sticking
point may be trying to fool the first lady, Ellen Mitchell.
Although the first marriage is over in all but name--Bill
and Ellen hardly even talk in private because she's so angry
about his philandering, deviousness, and mean-spirited
political beliefs--they still appear together in public.
Just how long it will take the first lady--and the country
as a whole--to catch on?
This movie is proof that it isn't what you do, it's how you
do it: Ivan Reitman's direction and Gary Ross' screenplay
use intelligence and warmhearted sentiment to make Dave into
wonderful lighthearted entertainment. Dave takes that old
plot about an ordinary person who is suddenly thrust into a
position of power, and finds a fresh way to tell it.
The plot unfolds with elements that would be at home in a
Frank Capra movie, which Reitman crosses here with some sly
political satire. One of the movie's charms is the way it
toys with our expectations. Ellen Mitchell is a smart and
proud woman with a good heart; she detests her husband's
two-timing politics and personal infidelity, and spends so
little time with him that perhaps the deception will work.
There's even poetic justice in the way the movie resolves
everything; both private and public agendas are fulfilled.
Much depends on the supporting performances, and Langella is
superb as the oily manipulator who thinks he can run the
country as a puppet-master. Kevin Dunn does an excellent
job as Langella's right-hand man, Kingsley portrays the vice
president with dignity and forbearance, and the always
dependable Charles Grodin plays a small but essential role
as Dave's best friend. But the heart of the film is really
the relationship between Dave and the first lady, who wander
about their cavernous and lonely quarters in the White House
like a couple of moonstruck teenagers.
The subtext of Dave is simple: If people in power only
behaved sensibly and with good will, a lot of our problems
would solve themselves.
