Dave Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Dave Blu-ray Movie Review

King for a Day

Reviewed by Michael Reuben November 30, 2012

Kevin Kline is known throughout the entertainment industry by the nickname "Kevin DeKline" for his habit of turning down roles. Fortunately for movie viewers, though, Kline said yes to the part of Dave Kovic, the optimistic working stiff who gets lifted from obscurity because of his remarkable resemblance to the President of the United States (also played by Kline in what amounts to an extended cameo). The result is a Capra-esque fairy tale that still holds up, in large part because of Kline's delicate touch. Neither Warren Beatty nor Kevin Costner, both of whom were reportedly considered, could have maintained the light tone that this political fantasy required.

"Capra-esque" is a much abused term, and I've previously disputed its facile application to stories that don't deserve it. But Dave earns the description by cleverly recreating Capra's version of small town America right in the heart of contemporary Washington, where old-fashioned virtues of decency and kindness need only be given a chance and they'll prevail. In Dave, Mr. Smith doesn't need to come to Washington, because he already lives there. Nor have the issues much changed between then and now. The signature program that Dave Kovic promotes in his role as "acting" President is job creation. The scandal he has to confront involves banking and secret campaign contributions. Plus ça change . . .

Dave began as an original script by Gary Ross, who is best known today as the man who adapted and directed the hugely successful film version of The Hunger Games, then walked away from the franchise because he wanted to do something different. But before becoming a director, Ross wrote or co-wrote two of the most durable comic fantasies of the last quarter century, Big and Dave, both of which reflect the same sure instinct for stirring in just enough realism to give the story substance, but stopping short before the souffle collapses from too much weight . Big never confronted the real challenges that a child would face if he suddenly had to assume adult responsibilities, and Dave never seriously undertakes an examination of genuine political and economic issues. It does, however, ask a few reasonable questions about how the most basic moral values can remain uncorrupted in the corridors of power, and, thanks to Kline, it does so while provoking laughter.

President Bill Mitchell (Klein) is a career politician with a polished public persona, a tough chief of staff, Bob Alexander (Frank Langella, quietly menacing), and an efficient communications director, Alan Reed (Kevin Dunn). Outwardly, Mitchell maintains the appearance of a happy marriage to his wife, First Lady Ellen Mitchell (Sigourney Weaver), but privately the marriage is dead and the couple can barely stand to be in the same room. Like the marriage, everything about Mitchell is a sham. He despises the common people he celebrates in his speeches; he's entirely beholden to special interests; and he's mired in a scandal involving a savings and loan. Alexander and Reed are his hatchet men. They take out the trash and bury the bodies.

Dave Kovik (also Klein) runs a small D.C. temp agency populated by hopeless cases for which Dave somehow always manages to find a job. Much of the temp work seems to come from Dave's put-upon accountant friend, Murray (Charles Grodin, who is funny with just a roll of the eyes). Dave loves baseball, is great friends with his office assistant, Alice (Faith Prince), and is generally one of the happiest guys around. He also has a sideline appearing as a lookalike because of his resemblance to President Mitchell.

After one of his lookalike gigs promoting a local car dealership, Dave is recruited by a Secret Service Agent, Duane Stevenson (Ving Rhames at his deadpan best), to serve as the President's double in a security detail. That's how Dave comes to be available when President Mitchell collapses from a massive stroke during a tryst with one of his secretaries (Laura Linney). Chief of Staff Alexander is dead set against turning over the Oval Office to Vice President Nance (Ben Kingsley), whom he dismisses as "a Boy Scout". Why let a little thing like the Constitution stand in your way? So Bob Alexander and Alan Reed hide away a comatose President Mitchell in a secluded White House treatment facility, while they install Dave in his place. Behind the scenes, Alexander continues running the country.

Or at least that's what Alexander intended. But after some false starts and pratfalls (and nobody does pratfalls better than Kevin Kline), Dave starts to get ideas of his own. He's especially moved by the First Lady and her charitable activities for the homeless. This, in turn, confuses Ellen Mitchell, whose real husband hasn't noticed her in years. Before long, the abandoned political wife and the accidental executive have made common cause against Alexander the career politician, and their clashes echo across the nightly news. (It would be interesting to reimagine Dave for the internet era.) We all know that Dave can't remain in the Oval Office, but how he leaves and what he can accomplish before he goes remain in question until the end. Ross's script and Ivan Reitman's direction neither rush nor linger over the denouement of Dave's "term" as president. Everyone ends up exactly where they deserve, which, of course, never happens in real life.

Dave Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dave's cinematographer Adam Greenberg (James Cameron's Terminator films, The Santa Clause 2) struck an interesting balance between the cheery tones of light comedy and the dark, serious and saturated blues, reds and browns usually found in films set in the world of politics. The effective and accurate reproduction of these color choices is the strongest element on Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray. Where the Blu-ray is less impressive is in the area of detail and definition. This does not appear to be a product of filtering or detail stripping, as the image retains a natural-looking grain structure and suffers from none of the smearing or waxiness associated with overly aggressive digital processing. Either the softness is inherent in the original photography, or the transfer failed to capture the maximum detail possible, for one reason or another. In any case, I note that the images reflected in the screen captures accompanying this review do not fully reflect the quality of the Blu-ray image as it appeared in motion on my display screen. This is one Blu-ray that definitely looked better as a moving image. (Obviously, there were no compression or mastering errors to report.)

Dave Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD MA 2.0 track adequately recreates Dave's theatrical stereo surround mix, which was and remains front-centered with emphasis on voices and dialogue. Play it through a surround decoder, and you'll get a nice sense of ambiance in busy scenes like the lawyers' convention that President Mitchell addresses before heading off for his fateful encounter with his secretary or the visit to the homeless shelter made by Dave and the First Lady. James Newton Howard's score is particularly well-suited to the film, with its airy, upbeat optimism, and it sounds particularly good in this presentation—indeed, better than I recall ever hearing it.

Dave Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making of Dave (480i; 1.33:1; 6:36): This a typical EPK featuring short interview snippets and a few behind-the-scenes clips.



• Theatrical Trailer (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 2:10): "Suddenly Dave has a great job."

Dave Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Two years after Dave, another presidential comedy explored similar themes of the President of the United States as a regular guy with a duty to make people's lives better. The film was The American President, and it's instructive to contrast the approach taken by writer Aaron Sorkin and director Rob Reiner with that taken in Dave. There's much less physical comedy in the later film and a lot more dialogue. As is often the case with a Sorkin script, vast amounts of information are incorporated into the text, and at times it almost feels as if one stumbled into a crash course in civics, much like what Dave has to undergo after he agrees to take President Mitchell's place.

But Dave never stands at the podium and delivers a lecture to the press or the nation. Even in the scene where he calls a press conference to announce a jobs program, Kline retains Dave's innocence and ordinariness. You never feel that the character is a vehicle through which someone is straining to deliver a message, as is so often the case with The American President. That's an essential reason why Dave remains so durable. Like its perpetually optimistic protagonist, the film bounces cheerfully along, with no greater aspiration than to make people's lives a little better, even if it's only by singing an a cappella rendition of "Tomorrow" from Annie. (You'll know the scene when you get there.) Despite the video shortcomings, recommended on the strength of the film.