Customer Reviews
Brilliant Double role film - By: Jay, 23 Dec 2007 
This is one of Kevin Klines funniest roles playing the ordinary Joe Dave Kovic who has the appearance that resembles the president. When the president suffers from a severe stroke the government wants Dave to fill in for the president while he is out. When Dave takes on the role of the president & and has to take on the life that the president left behind for him like the first lady played by Sigourney Weaver who hated him. Dave needs to take on his relationship with the first lady, his advisor's played by Frank Langella & Kevin Dunn (the only people who know who Dave reallly is) ,and the country. Memorable Kline film in a brilliant double role.
Good Light Comedy - By: Di Le Bec, 29 Sep 2007 An excellent example of modern light comedy, free of strong language, violence & with only the essential minimum of discreet & very brief sex. Can be watched with one's parents without risk of embarassment. Has a good tiwst in the plot at the end.
Nicely done: Frank Capra meets Ivan Reitman - By: C. O. DeRiemer, 13 Aug 2007 
Sweet natured, warm hearted, funny, a little sentimental, & with a surprising, sharp political edge best sums up this story about a man who gets to play president, takes on the bad guys & gets the girl in a happy ending.
President William Mitchell is a political sleaze who two-times his wife, Ellen (Sigourney Weaver), betrays his few principles & doesn't care much about anything. He frequently employs look alikes so he can have unnoticed time for his bimbos. But this time, after a major speech, while he's in the midst of love making, he has a major stroke in the arms of his latest girl friend. His double this time is a guy who runs a temp agency, who tries to help the people he comes into contact with & who has a sunny, open disposition. He's the kind of guy who sings "Oklahoma!" while riding his bike. He's named Dave Kovic & he's played by Kevin Kline in a first-rate performance of great charm & likeability. But the chief of staff, Bob Alexander (Frank Langella), an arrogant & condescending politico, plots to keep Dave in place by putting out the story that the president suffered only a "minor circulatory problem of the head." While the innocent lamb Dave covers as the president, Alexander will smear the vice president & force him to resign, then have himself named vice president...at which time Dave will go back to his old life & William Mitchell will be discovered to have had a second & incapacitating stroke. Bob Alexander will then become president.
All goes according to plan until Dave begins to ask questions about helping the poor. He begins to connect with people. He & his best friend, Murray Blum (Charles Grodin) plot to find ways to locate $650 million in the budget to save a shelters program. All this drives Alexander into a frustrated rage. And during alll this Dave & Ellen begin to make some connections of their own. She & her real husband had long since stopped having any feelings for each other. The conclusion of the movie is clever, satisfying, requires the complicity of Duane Stevenson (Ving Rhames), the president's secret service body guard, & split second timing.
Some of the reasons this movie works so well, in my opinion, is that alll the actors do fine jobs, not just Kline & Weaver. Langella is great (and amusing) as a king maker who wants to be king himself this time. Laura Linney carries off a smalll but important role with great humor & skill. Charles Grodin as Murray hits just the right note of funny, reluctant suspicion. Scattered throughout the movie are pointed interviews with media & political figures, commenting with dead pan seriousness on the activities of the president.
The music gets a bit sappy at times, but that's not a major drawback. All in alll, Dave is something of a throwback to the Frank Capra movies, but with a bit of a sting. I've watched it more than once & enjoy it. The DVD picture looks just fine.
Enjoyable Factor - By: Henry Exelby, 20 Mar 2007 This film is very good as it shows everyone what it would be like if yu had to impersonate the president of the united states. The plot is great with a good twist at the end which took me a while to realise. The White house is a main feature of the movie & politics.Its american politics with humour!
Wonderfully Predictable - By: D. Macgregor, 06 Jun 2005 Kevin Kline is an excellent stand in president in this very witty, highly predictable but extremely enjoyable comedy.
The storyline moves along gently & there are a couple of wonderful "sweet" moments as well as the tension between the "President" & his head of staff.
Sigourney Weaver plays the role of First Lady well & delivers another excellent performance.
The only strange thing is that at the end no-one seems to recognise the similarity between Kline & the ex president, but that is a very smalll criticism.
