It's a frothy concoction that plays like a teen movie but won't make much sense to anyone who isn't familiar with Watergate. Kirsten Dunst and Michelle WIlliams play two perky high schoolers who stumble on the Watergate burglary. Though they have no clue what they saw, President Nixon gives them jobs in the White House (as "official dog walkers" and "secret youth advisors") to keep them quiet. Williams' character develops a crush on "Dick," as Nixon tells them to call him in a strained attempt at rapport, and is crushed when she finds out, thanks to a tape in Rose Mary Woods' desk, that he kicks his dog and swears and, oh yeah, hates Jews and lies about everything. In revenge, the two girls pass on all they know to Woodward and Bernstein, and the rest is history.
I never thought I'd say this, but Dick is just too long. It's populated with refugees from sitcoms and sketch comedy, who offer varying degrees of entertainment and credulity as one-note characters. Will Ferrell and Bruce McCullough are a kick as the bitchily bickering Woodward and Bernstein. Dunst and Williams are appealing in their wide-eyed roles. But Dan Hedaya as Dick steals the show -- he's terrific.
Though Dick didn't keep my interest all the way through -- there's a deadly stretch when the girls are being chased by almost all the president's men -- it was still pretty funny. Like I said, the target audience member has to be youthful enough to enjoy the teeny-bopper sheen of the movie, yet either old enough or educated enough to get the Watergate references. Which probably makes it a pretty tough sell, but I think most of the people on this list will enjoy it.
(Really, I would have gone to see this movie no matter what, just so I could make jokes about the title [you know, if it was bad, I could say, "Dick sucks!"]. I was thinking of seeing it in a double feature with The Wood or maybe Big Daddy.)
(Hmmm. Maybe I should have taken my father off the list for this review.)
Oh, and my audience rant: This guy insisted on sitting one seat away from me, even though the theater was mostly empty, and he had a big plastic bag filled to the brim with Taco Bell products. Now, I love Taco Bell, but you have to admit, it's got an ungodly smell. And that smell doesn't age well. Add to the nauseating odor the snorts and grunts of the consumer -- I swear he sounded exactly like a hog eating slop -- and, well, I had to move. And in my new seat, some dude sat right behind me, took off his shoes, and belched every few minutes through the entire movie. Loudly and proudly. What rock do these people crawl out from under?
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