First Daughter (2004)

The office of strategic planning attached to First Daughter must be on orange alert for disaster: They postponed the release of Katie Holmes' only-child-of-the-president-wants-her-freedom-like-other-girls teen warmedy so that it no longer trailed so closely on the heels of Mandy Moore's only-child-of-the-president-wants-her-freedom-like-other-girls teen warmedy, counting on all of America to have forgotten about Chasing Liberty. And we have. But they must also know that within 20 minutes, memories will come flooding back and we're going to demand a recount: This is the exact same romantic plot, right down to the cute, slightly reserved beau (here played by Marc Blucas) who's not who the prez's daughter thinks he is.

The role of a poised daddy's girl is a dull one for Holmes, who looks pained, in a nonspecific way, throughout her capers; the movie itself, with a screenplay by Jessica Bendinger and Kate Kondell, is a dull one for director Forest Whitaker. Only Michael Keaton, as President Mackenzie, appears to be having fun, as if the job of Commander-in-Chief and First Daddy is itself a piece of cake, an easy schedule of waving to crowds and dancing with his girl.

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