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Back Shelf Beauties
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First Daughter First Daughter is one of those movies that leaves the audience silent through the first half (not in the good way), then rolling in the aisles with laughter in the second half as you give up hope and start to openly mock the film's badness with your friends and fellow audience members. Katie Holmes stars Samantha MacKenzie - the 18-year old college freshman daughter of the U.S. President (Michael Keaton). In the middle of her dad's re-election bid, Samantha heads off to college on the west coast in an attempt to avoid the spotlight and start living her own life. Of course, it is harder than she thinks as the first daughter is treated like a rock star on campus, and the increased secret service protection ordered by her father is cramping her style. Of course, this also causes trouble with her roommate Mia (Amerie), who likes to be the center of attention. Giving her some hope and happiness, Samantha falls for an older student, James (Josh Blucas). By attending college, can Samantha find freedom from her "horrible" life of attending fancy parties and being treated like royalty? Will she find herself? I can forgive Katie Holmes for making First Daughter since she is a young TV star trying to establish herself in the film business. However, Michael Keaton was BATMAN! He used to be cool, hip, dated Courtney Cox when she was sexy, and should know better than to star in some limp, dreadful piece of junk like this. First Daughter is horrible from its labored introduction that is supposed to make us feel like we are watching a fairy tale, right up until the end, when the closing narration threatens a sequel just as you are trying to get out of the theater as quickly as possible and checking your wallet to see if you have enough cash to get tickets to a good movie. The story is boring, the plot twists have been done before (most notably in this year's Chasing Liberty), and the whole film falls apart from its own ridiculous, forced innocence and attempts to be magical. It's about as magical as a frog that doesn't turn into a prince when you kiss it, but still gives you warts. First Daughter has so many flaws it is hard to figure out where to start. Writers Jessica Bendlinger and Kate Kondell, and director Forest Whitaker, take too long to get to the action as we painfully watch the supposedly meaningful and magical scenes of Samantha saying goodbye to her parents; going to her first kegger; meeting her roommate; and attending her first college classes (a virtual grand slam of clichés). Finally, we get to the whole romance thing, but it runs into a big plot twist that isn't very surprising or entertaining. Whitaker, who provides that uninspiring narration at the beginning and end of the movie, keeps everything rolling along, but never gives the movie somewhere to roll along to. First Daughter is following a road to nowhere, and you don't want to come on inside and take that ride. Holmes seems to be sleepwalking through the whole movie with her emotions set on sickeningly sweet. Her protestations against the gross injustices of Sam's life come off like whining, she has no spark with her co-star Blucas, and the only highlight of her performance is when she struts around in a sexy, teeny, weeny, little bikini (pictures that will be on the internet this weekend, and in the movie's commercials next week if it bombs at the box office). Holmes has been better than this, and I hope she returns to that level of performing. Blucas wasn't so bad as he attempts to inject some spark of life into the run of the mill, romance-by-numbers plot, but everyone else is mere window dressing. Even Keaton doesn't get a chance to show off his comedic skills (or his Batman-like fighting prowess). First Daughter is a loser with no chance of re-election. ½ Waffle (Out Of 4) Copyright 2004 - WaffleMovies.com
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