Dave

In a country where anybody can become president, anybody just did.

DAVE (12)

D: Ivan Reitman

Warner Bros. (Lauren Shuler-Donner & Ivan Reitman)

USA 🇺🇸 1993

110 mins

Comedy

W: Gary Ross

DP: Adam Greenberg

Ed: Sheldon Kahn

Mus: James Newton Howard

PD: J. Michael Riva

Kevin Kline (Dave Kovic / President Bill Mitchell), Sigourney Weaver (Ellen Mitchell), Frank Langella (Bob Alexander), Kevin Dunn (Alan Reed), Ben Kingsley (Vice President Gary Nance), Charles Grodin (Murray Blum), Ving Rhames (Duane Stevenson)

Being There and Mr. Smith Goes To Washington for the 1990's.

When the US president suffers a stroke whilst having an extra-marital affair, a recruitment agent who shares an uncanny likeness to him is convinced to impersonate him for the good of the country, but takes his position too far and starts to change things for the better, much to the behest of a crooked politician.

Kevin Kline does incredibly well in the dual role of the president and his lookalike Dave, with Sigourney Weaver giving good support as the president's wife while Frank Langella plays the sneering villain with menace.

The film manages to be both engaging and politically astute, including some satire towards the attitudes of American senators, especially when Dave fiddles with the budget to keep some children's schools funded. Good, lighthearted fun.

7/10