A-Z GUIDE TO MOVIES AND TV SHOWS PARODIED BY MAD, CRACKED, CRAZY, ETC. UP TO 1996. THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. SPOILERS AND OTHER NON-SEQUITURS, TOO. SOMETIMES THESE THINGS HAVE WORDS OR SITUATIONS WE DON'T USE ANYMORE. YOU KNOW, 'CAUSE THEY'RE OLD.
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Dave Kovick (Kevin Kline) runs a temp agency and is is drafted one day to be a body double for president Bill Mitchell because of his uncanny likeness.
He's needed to make public exits while the real president goes to his extramarital affairs, an open secret among his staff. During a rendezvous with his secretary (Laura Linney) the president has a stroke and he has to stay on life support indefinitely. Chief of Staff Bob Alexander (Frank Langella) and the Secret Service detail are the only ones who know about this, and conspire to make the public think nothing serious happened and pretend Dave is Mitchell in the meantime. Instead of appointing the Vice President to take over, Alexander, who's really running things, has sent the VP on a tour of Africa and plans to frame him, so that he will be appointed Vice President instead. (Secession doesn't work that way, but whatever).
People named Dave are featured throughout. Included are MLB player Dave Winfield, Clinton and Reagan advisor David Gergen, comedian David Brenner, reporter David Brinkley, SCOTUS judge David Souter, David Alan Grier, David Letterman, NYC mayor David Dinkins, and David Bowie.
Sam Donaldson is the reporter at the press conference.
Real politicians, newscasters, and celebrities made appearances as themselves in the movie.
Bill has been in a loveless marriage for years but Bill/Dave and his wife Ellen (Sigourney Weaver) keep up the charade when they make a public appearance at a childrens' homeless shelter. Bob Alexander forges Bill Mitchell's signature to veto a document that would fund the shelter (remember the good old days when the federal budget was only counted in millions?) Ellen confronts Bill/Dave in the shower angry that “he” vetoed the funding,so he has his accountant Murray (Charles Grodin, who died the very day I'm writing this. This happens a lot, must be a curse) come over to help set things right.
Ellen realizes it hasn't really been Bill all this time and lets him know. Vice President Nance (Ben Kingsley) comes back and finds out he's been set up in a savings and loan scandal by recently fired Bob Alexander. The real Bill Mitchell actually was involved and Dave as him comes clean and absolves Nance, then feigns a stroke (which they don't show in the parody) and disappears, ceding the presidency to Nance. Dave goes back to his life and runs for town council, and Ellen has fallen in love with him and comes to him. Back then middle aged people could still be romantic leads in film.
In the parody, the new president is Joey Buttafuoco, a fifteen-minute celebrity whose wife was shot by his teenage girlfriend.
One of the volunteers in the next-to-last panel is Phoebe Cates, real-life wife of Kevin Kline.
There's one more cameo by a Dave: David Byrne, on the last page at the State of the Union address.
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