The 10 Best U.S Presidents In Cinema

Kevin Kline As President Bill Mitchell And Dave Kovic (Dave, 1993)

This comedy – which is essentially House Of Cards-lite – features both a sitting President, and a ‘common man thrust into power’, in the singular form of Academy Award winner Kevin Kline. Written by Gary Ross and directed by Ivan Reitman, Dave delves into the dark machinations and manipulations of modern politics, while presenting a warm-hearted comedy steeped in patriotism and balanced on the shoulders of the central Presidential performance.

Kline plays morally questionable President Bill Mitchell, who has a stroke while engaging in extra-marital intimacy with a White House staffer. Meanwhile, Dave Kovic is running an employment agency, and also working as an impersonator of President Mitchell in order to make ends meet. This is made possible by his uncanny likeness to the world leader.

When the real President Mitchell has his stroke and falls into a coma, his Chief Of Staff – Bob Alexander (Frank Langella) – masterminds a plan to have Dave Kovic take his place, supposedly because the Vice President (Ben Kingsley) is considered mentally unbalanced. In fact, it is a ruse designed to ultimately allow Bob Alexander to take the Presidency.

But, the villains of the piece were not counting on the strong moral fibre of Dave Kovic, who proceeds to conduct himself with more Presidential focus than his actually elected predecessor. Nor were the villains counting the boosting effect of Kovic’s crush on the real First Lady, Ellen Mitchell (Sigourney Weaver) – who has long since been estranged from her troublesome husband. In the event, it is left to Dave Kovic – the ‘common man’ – to save his nation from the scheming, power-grab of a man of malicious intent. And he passes a jobs bill for good measure.