The daughter of the U.S. President heads off to college where she falls for a graduate student with a secret.The daughter of the U.S. President heads off to college where she falls for a graduate student with a secret.The daughter of the U.S. President heads off to college where she falls for a graduate student with a secret.
- Liz Pappas
- (as Lela Rochon Fuqua)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe release date for the film was pushed back after the similarly-themed Chasing Liberty (2004) flopped at the box office. This movie flopped even harder.
- GoofsWhen James and Sam telling each other things they don't know, James says that every state in the union has a city named Springfield. This is not true, as Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming are Springfield-less.
- Quotes
Samantha Mackenzie: What was that?
James Lansome: I was just saying goodnight.
Samantha Mackenzie: What is this? Is this some kind of game to you James?
James Lansome: No.
Samantha Mackenzie: You don't have to pretend anymore.
James Lansome: You're an amazing girl.
Samantha Mackenzie: Would you stop it? Just stop lying to me.
James Lansome: What could I have given to you Sam? I don't have anything to offer you. You're the President's daughter for Christsake.
Samantha Mackenzie: I have spent, almost my entire life with people smiling at me. And laughing at my jokes. And telling me how special I am, and how great I am, and how nice, and smart. And right now, I don't know if any of that was true. Maybe it was all some kind of an act. I don't know. What if I was different? If I was just like everybody else James? How would you feel about me then?
James Lansome: You just don't get it. Things are different.
Samantha Mackenzie: What if they were? I think you at least owe me this. Forget image. Forget politics. Forget everything else but who I am right now in here. If things were different.
James Lansome: If things were different... I'd still follow you around all the time - because I wanted to, not because I had to.
- ConnectionsFeatured in WatchMojo: Another Top 10 Copycat Movies (2019)
- SoundtracksMake a Wish
Written by Damon Elliott and David Elliott
Produced by Damon Elliott for Elliott Entertainment
Performed by David Elliott
First Daughter is a 2004 romantic dramedy and one of two First Daughter related projects released that year alongside Chasing Liberty. Despite beginning development prior to Chasing Liberty, First Daughter was released several months after Chasing Liberty. Directed by Forest Whitaker who'd previously directed the successful (if not critically well-regarded) Waiting to Exhale and Hope Floats, the film was negatively received by critics who called it inferior to the middlingly reviewed Chasing Liberty and also proved to be a box office bomb earning $10 million against a $30 million budget. While Chasing Liberty was just undemanding date night fodder that owed more than a few debts to Roman Holiday, First Daughter is chemistry free as a romance, laugh free as a comedy, and dramatically inert.
From the opening intro where narration provided by Forest Whitaker sets the story up as though it's a fairy tale, the film fails at establishing a consistent tone for itself and creates already shaky foundations for itself. I don't think Katie Holmes is necessarily to blame for this material as she's only working with what's been given, but in comparison to Chasing Liberty's handling of the First Daughter subject, Holmes feels like she's struggling with understanding a character who simultaneously exists in a world of Fairy Tale fantasy and real world unwanted tabloid and media attention creating a "no-man's land" of a character that doesn't fully satisfy either side of that equation. Marc Blucas is just an absolute blank as a leading man and there's so little chemistry between him and Holmes that the first kiss is shot from the back of Blucas' head as an indicator that even Whitaker knows there's no chemistry. But I think the biggest issues aside from its floundering comedy and lack of chemistry comes from a reveal halfway through the film that makes Michael Keaton and Margaret Colin's President and First Lady MacKenzie absolutely irredeemable as characters in a way the movie doesn't seem to understand. The reveal is very similar to the setup in Chasing Liberty (except played for drama) and while I had my problems with the execution at least the film acknowledged both in character and delivery that what was done was not a good thing. In First Daughter's case it bends backwards over itself to try and justify President MacKenzie's actions and he and the First Lady only do further actions involving their campaign that only further make them irredeemable.
I did not like First Daughter at all. While the cast are clearly trying to do what they can, there's no saving this movie. As a romance there's a lack of chemistry and passion, as a comedy the humor is very hackneyed, and as a drama it alters between being inert or in some cases unintentionally petty or malicious.
- IonicBreezeMachine
- Nov 27, 2023
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Перша донька
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $30,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $9,055,921
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $4,002,067
- Sep 26, 2004
- Gross worldwide
- $10,592,180
- Runtime1 hour 46 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1