Movie Review: First Daughter
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What Parents Should Know
The characters treat drinking as a badge of liberation and
adulthood. Although they are underage, Samantha talks about
hiding beer in a cooler and Mia asks if the Secret Service
agents will buy beer for them. Later, they go out drinking and
Sam gets tipsy and begins dancing on a table. There are some
mild sexual references and situations. Mia brings a boy she has
just met into her room and tells Sam she can't come in for two
hours -- but apparently they were just kissing. Later she says
that she kisses boys indiscriminately, except for the one she
really likes. Mia and Sam dress up to look like call girls,
with lace-up boots, hot pants, and fake tattoo. Characters use
mild language ("kiss my ass," etc.). A strength of the movie is
capable and successful African-American characters and loyal
inter-racial friendships.
Families who see this movie could talk about what Sam does and does not have in common with other college freshman. Why does Mia kiss guys she is not serious about but not the guy she really likes? What does it mean to say that someone is "always at home, no matter what anyone else thinks?" They could talk about how liking the way you are when you are with someone is a sign of a good relationship and about how both Sam and her father know that a good way to get people to do what you want is to let them know that you have high expectations, because they will want to live up to them. What does it mean to say that "every father has to learn to let go of his little girl and every little girl has to learn to let go of her father?"
Common Sense Media Review
This one is right off the conveyer belt. It's numbingly
predictable due to a screenplay straight from the "how to write
a script" formula book, which may be forgivable, but it is also
thuddingly dull due to performances and direction that lack
energy and commitment, which is not.
Samantha (Katie Holmes) is the daughter of the President (Michael Keaton) and just starting college as her father is running for re-election. She is looking forward getting away from home and to the freedom of being "just like everyone else" for the first time.
But Sam's not like everyone else, first because she has big men with curly wires coming out of their ears and photographers following her everywhere and second because of those qualities of her own that make her special.
The Secret Service detail and publicity are embarrassing and annoying. But it is finding out exactly who she is and what she wants that presents a greater challenge. Sam has to endure jealousy and teasing from her new classmates. She has to deal with seeing her embarrassing moments spread all over the media.
Sam gets some support from her free-spirited roommate, Mia (Amerie of television's "The Center") and her understanding dorm Resident Advisor, James ("Buffy's" Marc Blucas) and to thank them she whisks them off on Air Force One for a road trip right out of "Cinderella," a visit to the White House for an elegant state dinner.
But Sam, Mia, and James all have lessons to learn and apologies to make before an ending that even Cinderella would consider happy.
