Dick Movie Review:


Dick is a funny and well-written comedy. The film is a comedic satire of one's depiction of what really happened in the Watergate scandal. Two best friends, Betsy Jobs (Dunst) and Arlene Lorenzo (Williams), reveal the mysteries that were never solved. The film is a great mix of politics, scandals, and comedy involving President Richard "Dick" Nixon (Hedaya) and his staff in the 70's. Betsy and Arlene are two typical 15 year-old airheads that have witnessed some of the crimes, but are too dumb to even know what is going on with go. Dick decides to try and keep them quiet by making the girls official White House dog walkers. After becoming official White House dog walkers, the two friends find out more and more about Dick and Watergate. Thus, leading the two friends to becoming involved in all the unknown mysteries revolving around the Watergate scandals.

Dick is a smart and fun movie to watch. It does have its stupid moments with the two airheaded teenagers, but it is so accurate with the events in the Watergate scandal. Dick is a spoof of the 1976 film All the President's Men mixed with pieces of the 1995 film Clueless. All the President's Men is a film of the true story of the two Washington Post reporters that cracked the Watergate crimes. The two reporters, Bob Woodward (Ferrell) and Carl Bernstein (McCullock) are depicted hilariously in Dick. One of the biggest mysteries in United States history is who was "Deep Throat", which was supposedly the unknown source for Woodward that became pivotal in cracking the scandal. Of course in the Dick, "Deep Throat" is Betsy and Arlene.

The acting in Dick is well done. Dunst and Williams looked to have matured by taking a smarter movie, rather than maybe doing a blockbuster. Will Ferrell and Bruce McCullock are outstanding as Woodward and Bernstein. McCullock's gestures and wavy hair moments are classic. Dave Foley is hysterical as Dick's right hand man in the oval office, H.R. "Bob" Haldeman. The brightspot in the film however, is the performance by Dan Hedaya as Dick. Hedaya does an amazing job resembling President Nixon, his little quirks are totally accurate to Nixon, who was a character himself.

Dick was directed and co-written by Andrew Fleming. Fleming previous feature film was the dark witch story, The Craft. Fleming does a great job of mixing the accurate events and mysteries surrounding the White house in the 70's, in addition with a Saturday Night Live or Mad TV type of humor.

I believe that older audiences that lived through and remembered Richard Nixon will relate to this film the most. I was not born yet when the scandals happen, but I have learned a lot about it. I suggest to watch All the President's Men and Nixon before going to see Dick, it will be a lot funnier.

Overall, Dick is a sharp comedy that is a lot better than what its title sounds like. If you like political comedies and crazy Saturday Night Live related spoofs, then you will really enjoy Dick.

Report Card Grade: B

Joseph Tucker

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