dave

July 18 movie: Dave. I enjoyed this, but not as much as I thought I would. I hadn't seen it since it came out and all I had remembered was "I once caught a fish this big!" I hadn't remembered how, what's the word. Mawkish? That works. I hadn't remembered how mawkish it is. The swell of sentimental music the first time the White House appears on screen (and when he first greets a crowd of adoring fans, and when he first sees the Oval Office, and when Congress convenes, and when he goes to the homeless shelter, etc etc), that sort of thing. I think the movie would have seemed much less obvious and manipulative with a different soundtrack.

Now that I've trashed the movie, let me say a few good things about it. Kevin Kline is quite funny, as is the moustache-twirling Frank Langella. I laughed out loud several times, like the scene early on where Kline walks around his apartment singing "Oklahoma" without realizing the Secret Service are sitting there. It's so endearing they kept me with a preposterous plot until almost the very end. It's not a bad movie, just not as good as I had remembered.