Movie review: ‘Dave’

FloridaGator80

Characters doing the switchy-changey thing in movies can be very good or very bad. Whether it’s the child and parents switching bodies (say, “Freaky Friday” as just one example in either original or remake) or someone impersonating someone else (take your pick here there are so many), the plot is pretty standard and has been done for decades in Hollywood. However, in 1993 a film called “Dave” did a spectacular job using the biggest stage: the presidency of the United States. Kevin Kline does a masterful job in two roles in “Dave,” in which he plays a business owner who is the spitting image of the sitting U.S. president. However, the film is more than actors riding a one-joke trick pony and has surprising depth and outstanding chemistry between its headliners.

‘Dave’
(1993; 110 minutes; rated PG-13; directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver and Frank Langella)

THE POWER OF IMPERSONATION

(NOTE: I expanded this review with some additional opinion and the updating of links on May 18, 2016. I again expanded the review and fixed a couple of fact errors on June 13, 2018. I again updated the review on Nov. 5, 2024 – election day.)

The film “Dave” does a good job in the impersonation game where your average Joe replaces someone important, but it’s even better with the stellar performances of its two headlining actors: Kevin Kline as “Dave Kovic”/President “William ‘Bill’ Harrison Mitchell” and Sigourney Weaver as First Lady “Ellen Mitchell.” The duo manages to be absolutely perfect together from their first awkward moments to their ultimate bonding and, at the end, with their being reunited in better times.

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It’s not rare that actors develop chemistry in their roles, but the efforts and outcome jump out at you so much in “Dave” that it becomes the main attraction of the film instead of the story angle of an average American becoming the most powerful person on the planet (that part is really good, too, but not as much as the relationship between Kline and Weaver).

In “Dave,” the president needs a body double so he can cheat on his wife after a hotel speech. Since the couple sleep in separate White House bedrooms and barely even converse, it’s no big deal since the impersonator won’t even see the First Lady. Right? Wrong. Of course, wrong. Otherwise there wouldn’t be a film called “Dave.”

The Secret Service finds “Dave Kovic” (again, of course, Kline), the owner of an employment agency who picks up extra cash by impersonating the president in advertising campaigns. He’s pressed into action and does well until the president keels over with a stroke while with a female staff member at the hotel. Now, “Dave Kovic” must remain in his impersonation of the president as two top administration officials plot their takeover of the presidency. The real president is left lying (pun intended? 😊) in a lonely intensive care unit deep underground beneath the White House.

Of course the ensuing action is predictable but well done: Kline learns how to be the president; begins to show a better personality than the frosty, aloof chief executive that becomes attractive in the media (he throws out a really great first pitch at a baseball game); and finally is found out by Weaver. They bond and work together to thwart the nefarious plans of Kline’s chief of staff and he ultimately fakes a stroke after clearing things up before Congress so he can return to his real life and the real president can be brought back “to life” in time to die.

Here’s a look at some of the principal cast:

  • An Oscar winner (not for this one) and five-time Golden Globe nominee (yes, for this one), Kline looks born to this role. He’s cold and calculating as the president (in the mold of a scumbag, heartless Republican) as well as being compassionate and emotional as the employment agency owner. He deftly evolves the president into a likeable, middle-of-the-road president but cannot ultimately fool Weaver. Kline does such a good job that he could win an election if they re-run “Dave” the day before a real vote. Kline has also been in “The Big Chill,” “Wild Wild West” (click here to read my review) and, in my favorite of his, with Jamie Lee Curtis in “A Fish Called Wanda” (click here to read my review) – and he won his Oscar for that one. His Globe nominations include for “In & Out” and “Soapdish.”
  • A three-time Oscar nominee (not for this one) Weaver is easily as good a Kline and surpasses him in several scenes. She is especially effective in those moments leading up to the realization that someone is impersonating her husband. Weaver’s expression is especially telling when the couple visits a homeless center and she watches in amazement as Kline talks to a youngster. Weaver is best known for her work in the “Alien” franchise (I believe “Aliens” was the best and got her one of her Oscar nominations – click here to read my review of it) as well earning Oscar nominations for “Working Girl” and “Gorillas in the Mist.” She’s since reaped the benefits from the “Avatar” franchise.
  • Although a big presence as a character, Oscar nominee (for “Frost/Nixon”) Frank Langella somehow gets left behind by Kline and Weaver as he plays presidential chief of staff “Bob Alexander.” Langella is delightfully cretinous as the egotistical political animal who will stop at nothing short of gaining the White House himself. As the architect of the “Dave” ploy, he makes an excellent villain. Langella voiced in “Small Soldiers” (in which “Dave” co-star Kevin Dunn also co-starred) and did an OK job with “Draft Day” with Kevin Costner (click here to read my review).
  • The best supporting job is by Dunn, who plays White House spokesman “Alan Reed.” Dunn is conflicted from the first moment of the deception but soon finds himself in too deep to even consider jumping ship. Dunn is perfect as the modest public servant (and he’s the White House communications chief?) who unsuccessfully tries to be the good angel on one of Langella’s shoulders. In addition to the already mentioned “Small Soldiers,” Dunn has been in “I Heart Huckabees” and also in “Draft Day” with Kevin Costner (click here to read my review).
  • A nice quirky bright spot here is Golden Globe nominee (not for this one) and Primetime Emmy winner Charles Grodin, who plays account “Murray Blum” and is a friend of the real Kline. He gets a chance to experience the wonder of the White House as well as solve a federal budget problem for Kline. Grodin is seriously good at the quirky roles and it’s no exception here. He’s also been in “Midnight Run” with Robert DeNiro (click here to read my review) as well as the comedy “Seems Like Old Times” (click here to read my review). He got his Golden Globe nomination for the original “The Heartbreak Kid” from 1972 in quite a superior performance and won his Emmy for writing for “The Paul Simon Special.” Grodin died a 86 of bone marrow cancer in 2021.
  • If there was an Oscar category for stone-faced performances, then Golden Globe winner (not for this one) Ving Rhames would win it here for his portrayal of Secret Service agent “Duane Stevenson.” Despite all his professional training as an agent who is supposed to maintain his distance, Rhames comes to appreciate Kline although his sparse dialog here doesn’t detract from the character. Rhames was also the crime boss in the grisly “Pulp Fiction” as well as the remake of “Dawn of the Dead.” He was also in “Idlewild.”
  • Finally, Oscar winner and three-time nominee (not for this one) Ben Kingsley does a nice turn here with a small time on screen as the ethical and honest “Vice President Gary Nance.” He’s made a scapegoat in a controversy so that Langella can become vice president and then president. Kingsley is excellent as an earnest and honest public servant gone wrong and then done wrong. Of course, Kingsley won his Oscar for “Gandhi” and has been in films such as “Schindler’s List” and I really liked him in “Sneakers” with Robert Redford (click here to read my review).

One neat detail in “Dave” is the montage of commentators when everyone begins to take note of the obvious change in personality in the president after his “stroke.” Even sleazy filmmaker Oliver Stone has a cameo (conspiracy anyone?).

Ultimately I believe the best anyone can take out of “Dave” outside of the actors’ performances is that there is not a nirvana out there (or Camelot if you will) for the perfect politician. “Dave” does a good job of getting on the track, but even he ultimately finds that it becomes almost impossible because of all the distractions that lead people away from truly important issues (and the film was made 21 years ago in a pre-social media time).

“Dave” was solid with audiences and was the 16th ranked film at the U.S. box office in 1993 with $63.2 million in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. The No. 1 film of the year was “Jurassic Park” with $357 million and others in the top 20 that I enjoyed included “Groundhog Day” (13th with $70.9 million) and “Grumpy Old Men” (14th with $70.1 million). Here are some of the movies from 1993 that I’ve reviewed:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Laura Linney plays “Randi” and would go on to earn three Oscar nominations as her career expanded from roles such as this one.
  • The name game: Kline’s middle name is Delaney; Sigourney’s birth name is Susan Alexandra Weaver; Dunn’s middle name is James; Rhames’ birth names is Irving Rameses Rhames; Kingsley’s birth name is Krishna Bhanji; Linney’s middle name is Leggett; Hunt’s middle name is Lynn; and Grodin’s middle name was Sidney.
  • Although he appears to be the best fit for the role, Kline wasn’t the first choice of the filmmakers. Both Kevin Costner and Warren Beatty turned down the chance to play “Dave.” Thanks Kevin Costner and Warren, the film would have been just adequate (Costner) or downright horrid (Beatty), if either of you had been chosen.
  • “Dave” was nominated for an Oscar for its writing, so it’s no wonder the actors had so much to work with from a wonderful screenplay.
  • You won’t recognize her here, but Bonnie Hunt is memorable in a tiny role as a White House tour guide (“We’re walking, walking, walking …”). She has also been in the remake of “Cheaper by the Dozen” and its sequel (click here for my review of the sequel) as well as the little girl all grown up in “Jumanji” with Robin Williams (click here for my review).
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “The film’s Oval Office set was reused more than 25 times, for television shows and films like The Pelican Brief (1993), Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994) and Absolute Power (1997).”
  • Finally and directly from com: “Ivan Reitman offered Howard Stern a cameo role as himself but Stern turned it down. Reitman would later produce Stern’s film debut, Private Parts (1997).”

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