Posted by Larry Gleeson

For President’s Day, the American Film Institute AFI Movie Club selected Dave, a political comedy/romance about a Presidential lookalike named Dave recruited by the Secret Service to become a stand-in for the President of the United States.

 

 

Dave stars Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Frank Langella, Kevin Dunn, Ving Rhames, Ben Kingsley, Charles Grodin, and is directed by the recently departed, Ivan Reitman. Check out the video on the iconic director (Animal House, Ghostbusters, Stripes) and his commentary on tone in his films!

 

 

Interestingly, Dave features a number of cameos by real-life politicians who were given the green light to improvise and deliver monologues on their respective ideologies. The pols donated all their earned wages from the film to charities.

 

 

Notable, writer Gary Ross was working as a speechwriter for then-presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, as he was penning the screenplay for Dave. Ross received an Academy Award nomination for his efforts – for his Dave screenplay!

Dave is available to stream on Hoopla, Amazon Prime, and Google Play.