First Daughter
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: C Film: C
How about a comedy about a daughter of the President of
The United States who becomes romantically involved with a younger man despite
the stress of being watched by either secret service or the press all the
time. Mandy Moore had already done such
a film with Chasing Liberty, but later the same year came First
Daughter, with Katie Holmes also becoming involved with a secret service
agent. The Moore film actually shot
under the title of the Holmes film at one point, but the two projects going at
once and the Moore film shooting out of the country caused the name change.
Both are meant for young female audiences, but Holmes film
is too desperate for its own good to frame the film as some sort of “fairy
tale” as if that will make it Pretty Woman without hookers. Michael Keaton and Margaret Colin are good
as her parents, two actors too under-seen for our own good. Lela Rochon Fuqua is the liaison who tries
to bridge the gap between parents and child, the kind of role Rosie O’Donnell
or Joan Cusack would typically receive.
Marc Blucas is the agent Holmes falls for and they have some chemistry,
but none of this can save the tired screenplay by Jessica Bendinger and Jerry
O’Connell. The young female audience
intended for this film will get bored quickly.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is a little
disappointing in the color and detail departments, as shot by Toyomichi Kurita,
looked better in the 35mm print I sat through of this film at a promo screening
of it. The Dolby Digital 5.1 is about a
cut above Pro Logic for a dialogue based, would-be romantic comedy. Extras include a commentary by Holmes, Blucas
and Amerie (who plays her college roommate) that tells us little we really need
to know, except they get along and like each other. A brief tribute to Michael Kamen, piece on the choreography and
some scenes that deserved to be deleted also do not add much. This might be worth a look for very young
girls, but others can skip it.
- Nicholas Sheffo
