In the age of Monica-gate, it seems timely that a film that takes liberties with historical fact hit the screens about the "real" unmaking of the Nixon presidency - and it's a pretty sight full of nubile young females, taped conversations, unrequited passions and jealousy driven revenge.

In what has been repeatedly described as "Romy and Michelle's White House Adventure", "Dick" tells the story of how two irrepressibly ditsy teenage girls unwittingly bring down the entire Nixon administration for personal reasons. Forget Oliver Stone's conspiracy theories and forever banish Anthony Hopkins' curiously over-praised performance of the president - this movie has the real thing. Or the real thing as far as anyone will ever know for now.

Betsy (Kirsten Dunst) and Arlene (Michelle Williams) are two loopy middle-class fifteen year-olds growing up on the fringes of high school in the 70s. The pretty but extremely dim-witted Betsy has a penchant for the giggles, while the nerdy, needy and just slightly less dumb Arlene has a monumental crush on a Tiger Beat heart-throb. Sneaking out late one night from Arlene's Watergate apartment, the duo come across what would be the first chink in Nixon's presidential armor when they inadvertently cause the national secret to be leaked to the police and the press. Thereafter, on a White House visit, the girls blunder into the job of "official White House dog walkers", when an alarmed Nixon (Dan Hedaya) decides to keep them on close watch. As the girls voice their vacuous views on politics ("War is bad for children and animals") and bake drug-laced cookies for the president and his aides, things miraculously happen - the Vietnam war is stopped, a peace accord is reached. Things take a turn when the father-less Arlene develops a monumental crush on Dick and tapes a gushy love message for him which just happens to be 18 and a half minutes long. When the girls finally realize that Nixon is no friend of theirs, they begin to plot the unmaking of his presidency - quite a feat, considering the fact that both of them are severely cleverness-impaired.

This kind of revisionist take on history is not new, and was perhaps best done by Woody Allen's "Zelig", which hypothesized a fictional character to be the impetus for major world events. Even the internet-lore of "Bert is Evil" re-casts one of Jim Henson's favorite creations as an insidious historical figure. While "Dick" has a much narrower focal point - the unmaking of one president - it does have the benefit of timeliness; numerous reviews have dubbed Arlene and Betsy as baby Monicas. Whatever the circumstances of the time, this film remains an enjoyable piece of entertainment on its own terms.

The film's success rests entirely on the slight shoulders of its two stars, and to a certain extent, on Dan Hedaya's pitch-perfect caricature of Nixon. Finally landing the role of a lifetime, Hedaya chews scenery shamelessly but the film blossoms because of his spot-on rendition of Nixon's speech patterns and his fearless performance. Matching his experience with verve, spunk and a huge dollop of gamemanship, Dunst and Williams crank up the stupid-o-meter and present lively portraits of girls with nothing to lose. Dunst has blossomed tremendously since her breakthrough performance in "Interview with a Vampire" (she remains that film's most vivid and frightening memory) and her ability to play screwball comedy is effectively highlighted in this film. Her best moments are in her delivery of throw-away lines and the smug insouciance she brings to the role. Williams, who probably brings with her a boat-load of Dawson's Creek fans, has the slightly more difficult role as the dim but sensitive Arlene - the role is a departure from her character on the television series and proves her versatility. Together, the two actresses seem too intelligent to be as dumb as their characters, and they slyly let the audience know this in their performances, so that they are laughing with them, not at them.

The film's only problem comes in its basic structure and premise. While director Fleming does a wonderful job of keeping a constant stream of laughs and moving things along at a farcical breakneck speed, this treatment sometimes makes it hard to care for the characters who are constantly racing on in the service of the script. The plethora of disco-era hits, including ABBA's "Dancing Queen", may be a shrewd marketing angle, but proves distracting within the film itself. Apart from this, it is still hard to fathom exactly how successful the film will be. The subject matter may be something that will alienate the core teen audiences and play better with those old enough to remember the scandal of Watergate; furthermore, the film's content may be a huge mystery to those outside of the USA, and it would be interesting to see how well the film fares in the international arena. Meanwhile, the lack of proven marquee names may not bode well for the film's appeal to a wide cross-section of audiences in this crowded summer slate. This is a pity because "Dick" is one of the few uproarious comedies that relies on droll wit and actual intelligent farce, rather than silly sight gags and slapstick jokes about bodily functions, to earn its laughs.

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