Dave (1993)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Prez Provider

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Written by Gary Ross and directed by Ivan Reitman, this good-hearted political fantasy seems silly, based on a one-line sitcom idea, but works so smoothly and so beautifully that it can restore your faith in America. Dave Mitchell (Kevin Kline) runs an employment agency and is a dead ringer for the crooked President of the United States. When the real POTUS suffers a stroke, Dave is tapped to impersonate him for an undetermined period of time. In reality, the evil White House Chief of Staff Bob Alexander (Frank Langella) has a plan for getting rid of both the president and the kindly Vice President (Ben Kingsley) and taking over the country.

But Dave is such a good guy that he starts to exert some influence, and even manages to win over the president's wife Ellen (Sigourney Weaver), whom the real president had cheated on. The huge cast also includes Kevin Dunn, Ving Rhames, Charles Grodin, Laura Linney, Stephen Root, Bonnie Hunt, Anna Deavere Smith, and several real-life politicians and media types. For some reason, during Bill Clinton's presidency, there were several fantasies like this one about ideal presidents that genuinely wanted to help the people, rather than grabbing everything for themselves. Either way, Dave (1993) was a hit, earning good reviews, and even snagging an Oscar nomination for its original screenplay (it lost to The Piano).