Living under the microscope can be hard. We hear about it all the time with celebrities complaining about not having any privacy. But imagine being the presidentʼs daughter and going off to college. Thatʼs the situation that Katie Holmes finds herself in as Sam Mackenzie in the new movie “First Daughter.”Sam sees herself as just an average girl. Her wish is to pack up a beat-up Volkswagen and drive off to college in California. However,she happens to be the presidentʼs daughter and that makes her anything but normal to everyone else — that is everyone except for James, her new R.A.
“First Daughter” is a romantic comedy, first and foremost, but at its core there is more to it. The story is actually about Sam trying to find out who
she is and growing into the adult that college forces us to become. She goes through all of the traumatic college issues anyone goes through: trying to break free of her parents, falling in love, and dealing with roommates (although seriously, would the presidentʼs daughter really get
a roommate? It seems like that could be a serious breach of security!).
The only difference here is she has reporters following her around.
One problem the movie doeshave is in making us believe that
the entire country is fascinated with Sam. We are shown newspaper headlines of her and even Joan Rivers making fun of her clothes. Having all lived through Chelsea and the Bush twins, we know that they are not followed this closely. They are household names, but they arenʼt A-list celebrities. The film, which takes place during the autumn of an election year, repeatedly says that Samʼs antics and hijinks hurt her fatherʼs campaign. Letʼs be realistic, if the Bush twins got caught drinking underage now, it wouldnʼt really affect the polls all that much.
The film does a good job of making Sam sympathetic, even when playing the trump card and saying she didnʼt chose to be the first daughter.
But most of the credit should go to Holmes for playing the character so well. As her big breakout picture after “Dawsonʼs Creek” itʼs nice to see that she is settling in well in feature films, though the role probably wasnʼt as challenging as some of her previous films.
Working well with her strengths is Marc Blucas, who plays James in the film. The two have good onscreen chemistry, even making a better couple than Holmes and her real life fiance Chris Klein.
Marking his return to the big screen is Michael Keaton who plays the
President. Keaton, though he is Batman, doesnʼt necessarily scream presidential material. So itʼs good that for the most part he is just playing dad rather than having to run the country. “First Daughter” is an enjoyablefilm to watch with a date,especially since West Chester
students can relate to a lot of the things that Sam goes through been there and done that themselves.