Dick Review
by "Michael Elliott" (ccritic AT bellsouth DOT net)August 7th, 1999
DICK
*** out of **** stars
=====================
DIRECTED BY: Andrew Fleming
STARRING: Kirsten Dunst, Michelle Williams, Dan Hedaya, Dave Foley, Will Ferrell, Bruce McCulloch, Saul Rubinek
WRITTEN BY: Andrew Fleming, Sheryl Longin
RATED: PG-13 for sex-related humor, drug content, and language.
SCRIPTURE
REFERENCES: Proverbs 20:17, Psalms 101:7, Proverbs 19:5
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I hate to admit it, but the blistering satire DICK made more sense to me in explaining the ins and outs of the Watergate scandal than any news reporter or political analyst of the day ever did. Sure it's revisionist history... but at least it tied up every loose end and answered every question. Besides, it was a lot more fun to sit through than the real thing.
According to DICK, it all begins when 15 year olds Betsy Jobs (Kirsten Dunst, DROP DEAD GORGEOUS) and Arlene Lorenzo (Michelle Williams, DAWSON'S CREEK) leave the Watergate hotel where they are staying in order to mail a love letter to teen idol Bobby Sherman. Their actions, when sneaking out of the complex, prompt a guard's call to the police who then stumble upon the Watergate burglars.
Later, during a high school field trip tour through the White House, they meet up with G. Gordon Liddy (Harry Shearer, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE), Bob Haldeman (Dave Foley, KIDS IN THE HALL), Henry Kissinger (Saul Rubinek, BAD MANNERS), and John Dean (Jim Breuer, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE). Being teen aged girls, they of course lavish all their attention upon Checkers the dog.
While all the president's men try to decide how to handle these two bubble-brained adolescents, President Nixon ("Call me Dick") takes matters into his own hands because, to use his own oily words, "I have a way with young people. They trust me." He christens them official "White House dog walkers" and "secret youth advisors."
Thus begins an irreverent romp through modern history as Betsy and Arlene are credited with being inadvertently responsible for: the end of the Vietnam War; a new peace initiative between the US and the USSR; Nixon's signature "V" pose; erasing eighteen and one-half minutes of presidential tape and; giving the bickering Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein the biggest story of their careers.
Director Andrew Fleming (THE CRAFT) and newcomer Sheryl Longin co-scripted DICK and were so faithful to their initial premise and so inventive in carrying it out, that there is an unexpected plausibility to the outrageous scenarios being depicted.
It helps that both Miss Dunst and Miss Williams are priceless, being delightfully giddy and appropriately pubescent in their characterizations. Miss Williams is especially amusing as her Arlene fantasizes about President Nixon to the point that he replaces Bobby Sherman as her teen-dream poster boy.
The girls manage to play the naiveté of their on-screen roles with a sweet genuineness and believability that serves to enhance their crestfallen disappointment and teen-aged ire once they realize that their Dick is "a bad man!"
The confrontation between these two teenyboppers and their President after they hear his private tapes (before the expletives were deleted) is not only a hoot, it is somehow oddly rewarding. How many of us wished we could have said these words to President Nixon's face: "You've got a potty-mouth!"
In a brilliant piece of casting, Dan Hedaya was tapped to play the "Tricky Dick" caricature of Nixon and he does himself proud. His Dick Nixon is shifty, incapable of sincerity, and deserves to go down.
Trust is something that once lost, is almost impossible to regain. All comedy aside, the two female leads had no reason to distrust their president until he gave them cause.
A lie is never excusable. No matter how tempting it might be to offer a lie to avoid a punishment, a lie will always lead to a worse consequence.
"Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel." Proverbs 20:17 [KJV]
We can only hope that this is a lesson that, sooner or later, our presidents will be sure to learn.
Michael Elliott
August, 1999
http://www.christiancritic.com
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
