Chelsea, Clinton's daughter, attended Stanford University so that she could study far from Washington, though of course she would be watched by the Secret Service. Her situation evidently inspires First Daughter, directed and voicedover by Forest Whitaker, who updates the plight of a daughter of the president to 2004, when the likelihood of a terrorist attack and an election defeat is foremost in the mind of incumbent President Mackenzie (played by Michael Keaton). Once again, the university is on the West Coast, though Mackenzie is definitely not a clone of Bill Clinton or George W. Bush. Samantha Mackenzie (played by Katie Holmes), who clearly resembles neither daughter of George W, would prefer to drive a funky car to fictional Redmond University (actually, red-brick UCLA), but the presidential election is in progress, so her fall matriculation serves as a photo-op for the president that aims to increase votes. Air Force One arrives, Hail to the Chief plays, the president and First Lady Melanie (played by Margaret Colin) accompany Sam to her assigned room in the college dorm, and a political event trumps a freshman party. She just wants to be another student, on her own for the first time, but the press, the Secret Service, and nasty fellow students ruin that aspiration. Her best friend is her roommate, Mia Thompson (played by Amerie Rogers), who encourages her to assert herself. While in class one day, flanked by Secret Service agents, a handsome student, James Lansome (played by Marc Blucas), tries to crack a joke from the row behind her and thereby diverts the spotlight from Sam. After class, she congratulates James for coming to her "rescue," and soon they try to date. However, every time when Sam daringly tries to show her independence, the president gets upset that she will jeopardize his reelection chances, so he urges her to behave herself. After setting up such an interesting premise, however, the story becomes corny and mushy. (The film Chasing Liberty recently flopped in trying to make light of the plight of a First Daughter.) The serious point made in the film is that a presidential candidate's movements are so scripted by advisers that everyone in the president's family conforms to a rigid scenario of pseudoevents, at least until after the election. Otherwise, First Daughter is a nonpolitical film about politics!. MH
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