Dave The Rewatchables February 18, 2019

Picking Nits

A body double hired just to cover the president's affair; whether body doubles have ever really happened; Dave's temp agency during the five months; the confusing fall-to-fall timeline; the stroke never leaking; the hush payouts are far too low; the balcony security risk; the president and First Lady getting back into the White House; the everyone-gets-a-job program; why Bob didn't just let the VP take over; the First Lady turning around too quickly

In the discussion (10)

Approx. transcript time · 00:51:07Read transcript

A counterpoint argues there is no hole, the movie is perfect and the second best ever made; nit number one is that they found a body double so the president could carry on with a staffer when he could have done that anyway, since he comes in and out of her office multiple times.
On body doubles generally: a host thinks it has definitely happened in American history, before the internet or even the cable news era, recalling the Melania body double theory; others accept it may have happened for a diversion when someone was sick but never to this extent, and even Nixon's distinctive face would be hard to replicate.
What happened to Dave's temp agency during the five months he was president? Faith Prince was crushing it on the phones, and he had called to say he met a Polynesian gal and was going to Hawaii to get married, with 'she was amnesian' one of the stickiest lines in the movie; a host asks at what point anyone would wonder if they disappeared from the Ringer for five months, with a joke that Chris Connelly replaced Dave at the agency.
The timeline is confusing: it is fall when the movie starts and fall when it ends, yet the closing voiceover says the real president was in a coma for five months before he passed away, left intentionally ambiguous; and a lot of people knew about Mitchell's stroke coma, yet it never leaked and there were no rumors.
The payouts are extremely low, 50K, 50K, 100K and one doctor asking to head the CDC, as learned in the Alan and Bob Alexander conversation; the president having a stroke on top of his secretary would be a 5 million dollar National Enquirer scoop and the biggest story in the history of American politics, so you always need to ask for more.
Dave wandering the balcony as President Mitchell, looking out at the monuments, seems like a security concern with a sniper a mile away in some hotel; another host counters that roof and air rights around the White House are locked down and that on the factual television show Scandal the Truman Balcony is used constantly; the nit is waved off as not the biggest concern in a movie where a lookalike becomes president, and listeners are told to email.
The president and First Lady leave the White House and are simply let back in at the front gate, which is more unrealistic than leaving, since the guard can't know it's really them, and it certainly isn't him; bad security.
President Mitchell's jobs program, everyone who wants one gets a job, the Oprah plan with a direct comparison to FTR (as transcribed), is probably the most unrealistic part, since a real president saying that would be destroyed; the press laughs and is then won over by the 'look on somebody's face the day they finally get a job' speech, which is played, but Dave runs a temp agency and nobody sings from the rafters about a temp job, though the speech is moving and good acting.
Why wouldn't Bob just let the VP take over and bulldoze him? Because the boy scout might not keep him on as chief of staff; the random-temp-agency-stooge plan isn't really thought out, Bob just sees an opportunity after an unforeseen stroke, it's a bad plan, and Vice President Nance is a good and decent public servant who wouldn't suffer a devious fool like Bob Alexander in his administration.
Parked for nitpicks during the research block: the Sigourney Weaver character still turns around pretty quickly, one sandwich and she wants to keep the coup going, though a host defends it as falling for the sweet, decent version of the person you first loved who looks exactly like him; the real objection is less the attraction than her signing on to the illegal operation and pushing major legislation, while others point to the balanced budget, Ted Bundy's death-row romance, the shower, and how weird it would be to see a spouse of 30 years suddenly do a magic trick.