MBunge I don't understand how you can go through the time, effort and expense to make a motion picture and forget that a comedy needs jokes. It's like making an action flick where no one gets punched or a musical where no one sings or a tragedy where no one cries. Dick certainly has a humorous tone and some potentially funny premises but when it comes to honest-to-goodness jokes, there are very few here and most of them don't show up until the film is half over.Betsy and Arlene (Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams) are a couple of 15 year old girls who get caught up in the intrigue of the 1972 Nixon White House. At first, they just walk the President's dog and Arlene develops a school girl crush on Tricky Dick (Dan Hedaya). When they inadvertently discover Nixon's dark side, the girls turn into Deep Throat, the inside source that fed Woodward and Bernstein (Will Farrell and Bruce McCulloch) information on the Watergate cover up.Aside from a weirdly large number of double entendres about Nixon's first name and Ferrell and McCulloch firing off bits of shtick every moment they're on screen like they were signaling for someone to come and rescue them from this desert island of comedy, there's very little to laugh about in Dick. That's not the fault of the cast, though there are a few times when they give performances that could have been acceptable in a docu-drama. These actors are just not given enough to work with. For example, there's a scene where Arlene has a romantic fantasy about Nixon sweeping her off her feet. The idea provokes a snicker but it never goes anywhere or leads to anything. Instead of ending on a big laugh, the dream sequence merely trickles away. Or when Betsy and Arlene realize the truth about Nixon after hearing an audio tape of him ranting and cussing and kicking his dog, the scene ends with Betsy saying "I don't think the President of the United States should be recording conversations like that". The people who made Dick consider THAT to be a big punchline.Dunst and Willams are bright and bubbly but, as promising as this concept seems, it's a big, fat nothing burger of a film. Unless you're a hard core Nixon hater who can never get enough of seeing him mocked, you won't enjoy this Dick.

hall895 What if it turned out the central figures in uncovering the Watergate scandal were a pair of ditzy teenage girls? Is that so outlandish? Well, yes, I suppose it is. But that's what makes it so funny. This movie fills in the gaps in history (including that famous 18½-minute gap) with lots and lots of laughs. The story is implausible and impossible, a series of contrivances one piled on top of another. But in this bizarre alternate universe, one in which the fate of the free world rests in the hands of a pair of dumb blondes, the story works. The movie is funny, charming and thoroughly enjoyable.Our two ditzes are Betsy and Arlene, played by Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams respectively. They really are a couple of airheads. Arlene is meant to be the more serious-minded of the two. You can tell this because she wears glasses. That's always the way it works in movies, right? Betsy meanwhile is totally out there, a 1970s hippie chick floating on the breeze without a care in the world. Quite by accident Betsy and Arlene lead to the discovery of the Watergate break-in. They're oblivious to this of course. They're oblivious to pretty much everything. But when G. Gordon Liddy, who saw the girls at the Watergate, sees them again as they take a White House tour he's afraid they might know something. Soon the girls are meeting President Nixon himself and they find themselves appointed official White House dog-walkers so that the administration can keep an eye on them. But they end up seeing more things they shouldn't see and hearing more things they shouldn't hear. And ultimately they bring down a presidency. All along the way the laughs come fast and furious.Dumb though they are it's impossible not to love Betsy and Arlene. Dunst is terrific with her portrayal of the bubbly, flighty, relentlessly charming Betsy. Arlene is slightly more grounded than Betsy (everything's relative) so Williams doesn't have as showy a part to play as Dunst does. But she's very good too. All the supporting players are spot-on as they bring real-life Watergate figures to comedic life. Dan Hedaya's a great, funny Nixon. Dave Foley, Jim Breuer, Harry Shearer and Saul Rubinek all capture their respective White House figures well. And famous Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein are rather hilariously portrayed as bumbling, bickering fools by Will Ferrell and Bruce McCulloch. The more you know about the actual Watergate scandal the more you'll probably appreciate the movie. It definitely helps the movie along if you understand all the sly, subtle references to the real events. But even if you know nothing about Watergate at all the movie still has plenty to offer. Not all the jokes require encyclopedic knowledge of 1970s politics. For example when Nixon invites the girls to call him Dick you just know that's setting up for some cheap, easy, lowbrow jokes later on. But cheap and obvious as they are when those jokes do inevitably come they're still funny. This movie manages to make pretty much anything and everything funny. Dick is an enjoyable nostalgia trip back to the far-out '70s, complete with a totally groovy soundtrack. Who knew Watergate could be so funny and charming?

goawayfast The wardrobe and hairstyles are so amazingly authentic for the time period. This movie has a great soundtrack. Everything was so well done. It is obvious that they put a lot of work into the process of creating an accurate representation of that time in history. The sets must have been carefully researched, because they were well put together. I just loved the furniture. There are many fantastic character portrayals, especially of two energetic and curious 15 year old girls coming of age and discovering the realities of the world around them. I loved how the girls were always screaming and running off. Their characters were spot on and quite genuine. Very creative (and obviously fabricated) scenarios regarding the possible events surrounding the Watergate events. Definitely worth seeing. I wasn't too impressed with the Woodward and Bernstein characters - they detracted from the overall movie quality.

gentendo Dick is a culturally and politically charged satire that seems to mirror certain social images/issues that are current in today's world. As expected within most Neo-Classical comedies, Dick exploits the wide spectrum of cultural stereotypes. Included are: Blonde and ditzy teenage girls, pothead older brother, Nazi high school teacher, lime-lit newspaper reporters, and a corrupt presidential campaign (which arguably and ironically continues to be a heated topic in today's world). Each stereotype, perhaps, is a reflection or commentary on how foolish America was in the 1970's, but each that nevertheless carries a timeless quality in to today's governing politics. I mean, there was the naïve public portrayed as believers of whatever the president said on national television as being veridical; a pair of airy teenagers that wagged the Nixon administration and ultimately ended his reign as Commander and Chief (not to forget a metaphorical insight into their position as "dog walkers"); and a pothead's "magic" cookie recipe that accounted for Nixon's paranoia when being pressured by the public. Although all of these elements are a satirical blast on previous political campaigns, they may not be too far off from where we are today. Let me explain.First off, I must admit I am not historically astute. However, I was not blind to the film's heckling subtext that seemed not only to ridicule Nixon himself, but also those who are typical of his character today. We see so many scandals in modern times involving corrupt politicians that, consequently, we have become jaded to their importance (i.e. Clinton scandal; Bush conspiracies; crooked corporations). This film merely emphasizes the catalyst of that ongoing corruption, when for the first time in American history (independent of Johnson's impeachment) a president's authority had been publicly questioned. Although the public is more aware today and less naïve towards the encroachments of governmental power, we have substituted our naivety for skepticism and cynicism (two qualities that are equally, if not worse than what we possessed before). Today the president's authority is also bombarded with an arsenal of attacks (and more). I only wonder if they'll one day combine the stars of both Dick and Romy and Michele's High School Reunion to make a satire out of the Bush Administration. I wouldn't be surprised. While nothing is really historically revised to tell the tale, the film does humorously provide a stream of satirical answers to some of the most mysterious questions regarding the Nixon administration. Questions like: "What really happened at Watergate and who alerted the authorities about the break-in?" "What was on the eighteen-and-a-half minutes of tape that got erased?" "Who was 'Deep Throat,' and why the alleged pseudonym?" The answers given to these questions poke fun at how ridiculous the cover-up was really made out to be. Satires like this, I think, are made for one of two reasons (or both): 1). To release social tensions by remembering to laugh once in awhile at societal shortcomings, and/or 2). To make a political statement regarding the nature of whom, we, as societal members, vote for to run our country. Perhaps it's a little of both, but given the content of this particular film, I don't think it took itself too seriously.