Taglines: The girl who always stood out is finally getting the chance to fit in.
First Daughter movie storyline. Samantha Mackenzie (Katie Holmes) loves and supports her parents, US President John Mackenzie and First Lady Melanie Mackenzie, and enjoys the privileges that she has received being the only daughter of the President, but sometimes she wants to be what she considers “normal” which means not having her life scrutinized by the world 24/7. She made the decision to go away to college in California at Redmond University in large part to get away from life at the White House and hopefully assert some independence, this first stint at college coinciding with President Mackenzie’s reelection bid for a second term in the White House.
As such, he knows that his opponents will exploit whatever they can, including placing even more scrutiny on the family, and having even more threats than usual against them meaning his want for more security. So Sam’s college experience is less than normal, being followed by a very visible team of Secret Service agents, who are trained to notice the smallest things that may be of threat to her. This highly visible team makes it difficult for Sam to make friends, with her eventual dorm roommate, Mia Thompson, an initially reluctant one.
As Sam negotiates with her parents for more freedom than she is allowed, she gets a mostly cooperative accomplice in Mia in exerting that freedom regardless of her parents. Sam ends up finding another simpatico classmate in the form of James Lansome, who she eventually learns is also her resident advisor. In James helping her find those moments of independence, she falls for him and he with her. James, however, is keeping his own secrets which may further negatively affect Sam’s view of her life, of her college experience and of James himself if she were to discover those secrets, which is more and more likely the closer the election date.
First Daughter is a 2004 American romantic comedy released by 20th Century Fox. It stars Katie Holmes as Samantha MacKenzie, daughter of the President of the United States, who enrolls at a college and develops a relationship with another student at the college played by Marc Blucas. The film follows Samantha as she is given a new sense of freedom during her time away from the White House, and the advantages and disadvantages of her college life and education. It co-stars Michael Keaton as the President of the United States and Amerie Rogers as Samantha’s roommate, Mia Thompson.
The film was directed by Forest Whitaker, written by Jessica Bendinger, Kate Kondell, and Jerry O’Connell, and produced by John Davis. Whitaker likened First Daughter to a fairy tale, characterizing it as “the story of a princess who leaves the ‘castle’ [the White House] to go out in the world to discover who and what she is.” The film had languished in “development hell” for several years, and was further delayed even after its completion. The film was not a commercial success upon its eventual release, and received overwhelmingly negative reviews.
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First Daughter (2004)
Directed by: Forest Whitaker
Starring: Katie Holmes, Marc Blucas, Michael Keaton, Dwayne Adway, Andrew Caple-Shaw, Margaret Colin, Amerie, Lela Rochon, Michael Milhoan, Ken Moreno, Alex Avant
Screenplay by: Jerry O’Connell, Jessica Bendinger
Production Design by: Alec Hammond
Cinematography by: Toyomichi Kurita
Film Editing by: Richard Chew
Costume Design by: Francine Jamison-Tanchuck
Set Decoration by: Denise Pizzini
Art Direction by: Keith Neely
Music by: Michael Kamen, Blake Neely
MPAA Rating: PG for sexual situations, alcohol-related material.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release: September 24, 2004
Views: 90
