Most Rewatchable Scene
Ving Rhames's 'I would have taken a bullet for you' farewell; the traffic stop where Dave and the First Lady sing 'Tomorrow'
In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:31Read transcript
- Six nominees are offered, starting with the scene when Dave becomes Mitchell's stand-in, is taught the part, runs into the guy and then goes out and does God Bless America; it has the right dramatic tone and is really fun.
- Second is the montage when President Mitchell is feeling better, with the 'I once caught a fish this big' moment, the early-nineties shows like the McGoughlin group (as transcribed) and real senators weighing in, nicely edited and finishing with the first pitch at the Orioles game at Camden Yards, probably shot right before a real game started; third is Dave fixing the budget in four minutes, one of a host's favorite scenes in movie history.
- Fourth is Dave firing Bob and giving the speech about his new jobs initiative, which is called a little flimsy and, for the record, a pitch for socialism; fifth is his last speech and the stroke, with the party where everybody leaves, an amazing five minutes.
- The 'I would have taken a bullet for you' farewell is made its own scene and is one host's most rewatchable, getting this host every time: two guys reaching that Shawshank beach-hug place, with Ving Ramsey (as transcribed) going from not even eating the sandwich Dave made him to saying he would have taken a bullet; a second voice notes once again listening to the guys talk about men not expressing their emotions.
- Another nominee is when Dave and Sigourney Weaver are pulled over by the cops, Dave does the club med routine and they sing Tomorrow; her voice is bad on purpose, the cop flashing the flashlight in Kevin Kline's eyes and the 'I'm okay' keep-singing beat have perfect comedic timing, and a host who basically hates live singing picks it as a favorite scene and sticks with it over the montage despite the arms-up moment on the mound.
- The children's homeless shelter visit, Dave sitting down to talk to the little kid and telling the press 'guys, not now', is a nominee but not a pick; it is hokey yet works, you have to be a great actor to keep it from seeming schmaltzy, and Robin Williams would have botched it with handkerchiefs everywhere; a host goes with 'I would have taken a bullet for you', or the four-minute budget fix if the farewell is not considered a scene.
- The budget scene is walked through: delinquent defense contracts saving 23 million a month, the need to reach 650 million to save the homeless, the 47 million car marketing campaign to make people feel better about a car they already bought, and the carry-over-the-two 656 finish; the clip of 'I don't want to tell some eight-year-old kid that he's got to sleep in the street' is played, and the cabinet ends up shaking his hand saying 'Mr. President, well done, sir'.
- Asked whether balancing the budget could really be this easy if the pork were stripped out of every bill in Congress, the answer is yes but that it sounds like every person on talk radio and you only pick your own causes; cutting money to help the homeless is agreed to be a good thing, there is doubt whether a real campaign to make people feel better about their cars ever existed, and a host whose husband recently got a new car has been performing that service for free, at 47 million emotional dollars.
- During the research block, the scene where Dave and the First Lady pose as presidential impersonators, added late in the shoot, is named by a host as their most rewatchable scene.