Dave Parent Guide

Dave Kovic (Kevin Kline) runs a temp agency where he spends his time coaxing, badgering, and persuading local business owners to hire clerical staff. He also has a side gig – impersonating the President of the United States, for whom he is a dead ringer. When the Secret Service asks Dave to act as a body double to improve the President’s security after a public appearance, he jumps at the chance to serve his country.

Dave doesn’t know that while he’s smiling and waving at his fellow citizens in the hotel lobby, President Bill Mitchell (also played by Kevin Kline) is upstairs in the same hotel, having an affair with his secretary. When POTUS has a stroke and falls into a coma, White House Chief of Staff Bob Alexander (played with barely contained menace by Frank Langella) is incensed. Having built President Mitchell’s political career, Alexander feels entitled to enjoy the fruits of their success and has no intention of letting something as trivial as the Constitution stand in his way. Alexander has Dave rerouted to the White House and persuades him that national security is at stake unless he keeps impersonating the president. Flattered and eager to help, Dave agrees.

Parents will quickly see the biggest moral challenge with Dave – having a bloodless coup d’etat treated as comic fodder. That said, Dave is clearly behaving without malice and is being manipulated by Alexander and his assistant, Alan Reed (Kevin Dunn). There are also consequences for the dishonest actions of the unscrupulous characters, so parents can be reassured that their teens will see clear lessons about getting what you deserve.

Parents will be less happy with some of the content issues, particularly the sex scene involving President Mitchell and his secretary. The scene features Mitchell lying atop the young woman and the couple are heard moaning. There is also a moment where Dave is shown with full rear nudity through the steamy glass of his shower. Neither scene requires that level of detail to further the plot and it’s disappointing that they weren’t dialed down. Fortunately, other negative content is minor, with a dozen profanities, most of which are terms of deity.

On the bright side, Dave is a funny and light-hearted yet somehow earnest tribute to an idealized America, where ordinary citizens can be elected to high office and where a sincere desire to help others is all you need to change the world. This production has a strongly Capra-esque sensibility, sharing the heartfelt optimism of Frank Capra’s movies like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It’s a Wonderful Life. Like Capra, Dave believes in the best of his country and encourages his fellow citizens to believe too. And that’s not a bad message for any family movie night.