Dave
(1993)
A Warner
Bros Picture
Directed by: Ivan Reitman
Starring: Kevin Kline (Dave/Pres. Mitchell),
Sigourney Weaver (Ellen Mitchell), Frank Langella
(Bob Alexander), Kevin Dunn (Allen), Ving
Rhames (Dwayne), Ben Kingsley (VP Nance)
Running Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
IMDB
Website Link | Buy
it from Amazon |
 DVD
Technical Specs:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
(side A); 1.33:1 Fullscreen (side B)
Audio Options: English Dolby Surround (no
5.1...<sigh>), French, Spanish
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
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SPECIAL
FEATURES
Featurette: The Making of Dave
4 Theatrical Trailers
Production Notes
Cast and Crew information
Not exactly a special edition DVD, but at least you get the
movie. This edition screams for a special edition, with a
better picture, and would it kill someone to put some Dolby
Digital 5.1 here? So, it's great to have the movie, but it
could use its own special edition with remastered video and
audio.
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We're Walking, We're Walking, We're
Stopping...
Welcome to the imaginary Washington,
DC of the movies. A movie that allows a complete poser to
take over as president and no one notices, and even better,
he makes a positive difference to the country.
Dave, as I quickly summarized before,
is about a man, Dave, who looks amazingly like President Mitchell.
Well, President Mitchell likes to undertake some extracurricular
activities that requires the Secret Service to find doubles
who can take his place leaving social events and the like.
The service, in the form of Ving Rhames, finds Dave, and has
him work at a hotel dinner farewell. All goes well and while
Dave is being driven home, President Mitchell doesn't do so
well. Dave is immediately taken back and some illegal activities
are undertaken by some of the White House staff to keep the
'president' in power and the Vice President out of it. Little
do these staffers know that Dave will prove quite adept at
the job. He even manages to survive his encounter with the
icy First Lady, played amazingly by Sigourney Weaver in full
on 'Working Girl' mode. It all leads to discoveries that change
everything but make things end as originally intended. Cryptic,
eh? Then you need to watch the movie.
Plausible? Not really. At least I would
think not. Who knows though? I've finished reading that History
book I talked about, and I really didn't realize how many
presidents have been assassinated or died while in the presidency.
Perhaps the movie is not so far-fetched, especially with today's
plastic surgery. Anyways, in this case, the movie really is
done well. Kevin Kline's Dave is inspiring. You hope that
the common guy could really do the things he does and that
no politics would interfere, and in the movie, that's how
it is. You gotta disregard reality. But it sure is a nice
pipedream and by the end, you kind of have some faith restored
in the government. Which is a good thing.
There's a lot of great cameos in this
film, as Ivan Reitman had plenty of friends on the Hill and
in Hollywood. Many many Washington regulars show up, even
a future California governor! One of the most hilarious cameos
is Bonnie Hunt as a particularly bossy White House tour guide,
hence the title of this article.
So, Dave is a great movie. A fantasy?
Of course. But fun, humorous, and charming nonetheless.
Scenes to Remember:
Dave's first Presidential appearance; Cutting the Budget;
Running for City Council.
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