Frankly, First Daughter is not the train wreck the critics are saying it is; it's not like it was The Stepford Wives or anything.

First Daughter follows the travails of one Samantha Mackenzie (Holmes) as she breaks away from her dad (Michael Keaton) and starts college. Okay, it's not especially deep, and yes, it probably is similar to Mandy Moore's Chasing Liberty, which was released at the top end of this year and was by all accounts a stinker (I didn't see it so I can't say). We see Sam get in some fairly predictable situations; she's hounded by her Secret Service guys; she has a cheeky black roommate (Amarie Rogers) who takes a while to warm up to her; and she has trouble relating to guys until she meets James Lansome (Marc Blucas), who just lets her be her, blah blah blah. It's a little thin, yeah, and the whole fairy-tale narration done at the beginning (by director Forest Whittaker himself) is treacly, period.

But at least everyone gives it an honest stab. Keaton in particular seems to be enjoying himself as an embattled president (we could have used a little more of that, frankly) who cares about his daughter but is caught up in re-election blues. Rogers is a whole lot less annoying than I thought she would be, and her character Mia has a twist that I actually enjoyed. Blucas I find to be a terribly underrated actor; he's been good in a number of otherwise unremarkable productions, but he's solid, charismatic, and fun to watch. All of those traits serve him well here and he has good chemistry with Holmes, which you can't say about most of her big-screen beaus.

And Katie, who has to carry the film? Well, she's not really given a chance to shine. She gets a few scenes of real acting, but mostly this is lightweight stuff for her (after her performance in Pieces of April there can be little doubt she has the goods); aside from some pleasant chemistry and one or two scenes where she gets to be a little weepy, there's not a lot here for her to do but look princessy and gaze wide-eyed at a lot of things. One scene, an argument with Mia, could have really benefited from a little more heat. Katie can do anger pretty well (so would you if you had to work with James Van Der Beek for six years), and it's a shame she never gets to open up the throttle here and show off. I suspect that was Whittaker's decision, but more than once he passes on the opportunity to utilize the strengths of his lead.

First Daughter isn't a particularly memorable film, but it's not all that bad either. It's a light piece of fluff that only waxes saccharine in a few scenes, and actually has a few good moments (when Blucas reveals that he's a Secret Service agent, both he and Holmes pull it off excellently). It's by a long shot not the worst film of the year (or even the season; it's far less annoying than Resident Evil). In fact, it's a great deal like Sky Captain; a really pretty wrapping around a mostly empty box.

Samantha Mackenzie (Katie Holmes), the daughter of President Mackenzie (Michael Keaton) and his wife Melanie (Margaret Collin), decides to go to college in California during his tough campaign for reelection. She requests a reduced secret service protection trying to act normal with her new mates, including her roommate Mia Thompson (Amerie), and she falls in love for James Lansome (Marc Blucas). When her security is threatened, she discloses the real identity of James and decides to return home to support her family in the election process.

In spite of having a good cast with great performances, "First Daughter" has a very silly and shallow screenplay that does not help the actors and the actresses. The story aims to expose the "tough life" of a young woman because she is the daughter of the president of the USA, but actually shows a futile, spoiled and overprotected teenager with a weak personality having a luxurious and banal lifestyle. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Filha do Presidente" ("The Daughter of the President")

First Daughter says it all.... This movie was fun and light-hearted, but by no means was it a collector's item. Katie Holmes does not always succeed in looking 18 (more like 25) but she convinces the audience that she is at least well-meaning. Michael Keaton returns to the big screen- the daddy-daughter chemistry is endearing, if not nearly convincing. The plot line was neither original nor engaging to any real degree, but Katie does an OK job of keeping interest. The love interest is charming and the scenes are moderately appealing. If you have no real expectations you'll most likely get a kick out of the movie, just don't expect too much. If you saw Mandy Moore's version of this movie you'll be pleasantly surprised to find it not so far-fetched, but it is no more original than round number one of the "first daughter" goes. If you're up for any chick- flick available, do it. If you're skeptical and short on cash... stay home.

OK, I love Katie Holmes and do not regret seeing this movie cuz she was so cute and really did a great acting job, as usual. And, in fact, all the actors did, which shows what talent they have to be able to act in such an awfully written movie. The script was just dull and parts of the movie that were interesting, they chose not to develop. The whole problem with her roommate could have been interesting, but the problems just went away way too quickly. And, the commercials give away that Katie Holmes' character's boyfriend is a bodyguard, which seems to be the whole excitement of the movie. I would recommend that you don't pay money to see this movie, if anything, wait till it comes out on cable, it can't be too far away!

The plot itself - about the First daughter who went to College in Carlifornia, far away from the White House, in order to be normal and meet friends may be cliché. Yet the movie on the whole can still hand out nice surprises every now and then. Katie Holmes has a unique face and looks intelligent enough to want to be independent as well as not to disappoint the First family. More importantly, Marc Blucas (her love interest) is not like the stereotyped Prince Charming for a teenager. At least he also looks sophisticated and mature and gives a strong case why the first daughter would fall for him. The two make an attractive couple and are on the same wavelength when they share the views on science etc.

The twist in the movie, at least I didn't see it coming, is good. Considering how many such plots have appeared on screen, I must say this one at least is not as predictable and does give me some credibility as a story about real people. The President and First Lady are not given a significant part here. The young couple already is a good reason to watch the movie. The love songs that accompanied the ball room dances are pleasant and well-chosen. If "monster-in-law" is rated 5 out of 10 here (last time I check), then "the First Daughter" deserves at least a 6.5 or 7, for its creativity and credible performance by the leading couple.

I also hope that Marc Blucas has great roles in future movies for his refreshing looks and performance.

The best parts of this movie - in my estimation is watching Katie Holmes run around with that tiny blue bikini on, and do the table dance with the blonde wig on. Other than that - it could have been much better. I thought the combo of Michael Keaton and Katie would have made this movie much improved over Chasing Liberty (I also thought that movie was mediocre at best). But in the end, this movie was just okay. The ending was very disappointing also. There was no resolution except that she's got her whole life in front of her. I still consider Wonder Boys and Pieces of April as Katie's best work. I hope she's got something really redeeming up next. I'd hate for her to fall under the Ben Affleck curse (good looking, made some good movies, but then started making tons of terrible ones). We can only hope.

This is what we find in this very simple but definitely watchable romantic movie.Katie Holmes in the title role looks absolutely gorgeous and others like Michael Keaton as US President,Marc Blucas as her lover,Amerie as her vivacious room-mate in college all do justice to their roles as well.The story line might be clichéd but the presentation is good and overall acting is quite decent.I personally feel that its a nicely made romantic movie which you can watch with all members of the family,contrary to present genre of so-called romantic movies.The much used 'Princess-meets-the-common-man-and-what-happens- there-after' theme has been handled very nicely.It really proves that Love really doesn't have any boundaries after-all.

a pleasant and entertaining film. A safe film for young teenagers, and one which gives a half way decent message about young relationships. Very fortunate that there is no profanity,perversion or pornography, blood, guts gore and the usual trappings of so much from film land of all nations. Reminiscent of a gentler era at large and one which many might wish back again. Good for a girls night in! This film made a favorable impression on my grandchildren. Great to dress up in ballgowns and do 'proper dancing'. I would certainly agree with the comments of others to wit, "let's get them back again for a sequel". After all the ending narration was, 'that's another story'. In order to have a realistic happy ending perhaps a flashback mode could be employed to explain a change of scene to South America say for the ss man 'James'. Young Marc Blucas is very believable. MissHolmes is a little past the teenager, but she has a compelling smile.

This is one of the very very few modern films which I have purchased.

I saw the movie First Daughter and I thought that it was great. I like Katie Holmes! She is such a wonderful Actress and she has wonderful talent. I watched her in Dawson's Creek and she was great there too. I really enjoy watching Katie Holmes movies cause they are so much fun and she puts in all her effort and talent she is just so amazing. Words can't explain it. I can relate to her in the movie First Daughter because like her when I was living at home with my parents I wanted freedom and I wanted to go out and show the world that I was capable of and not just a Daddy and Mommy's girl who would always live at home. I wanted to go off to college to do that. And that is almost exactly what Katie aka Samantha did. She wanted to go off to college and do things on her own and be a normal person. And I admire that in that movie. It was a wonderful movie just like I said before. Katie Holmes is a wonderful actress and i can't wait to see some more of her movies soon. Cause I know that they will be good. Thanks Katies number one fan

I just registered with IMDb for the exclusive purpose of telling everyone within shouting distance that is one of the absolute worst movies I have ever seen. I had to do this in order to validate the two hours of my life that I just wasted on this tripe. The script was beyond awful, and it was incredibly slow. Please, for the love of God, do not waste your time on this movie. I cannot even conceive of a movie more predictable, more cliché, more utterly forced. I can imagine Michael Keaton seeing the final cut of this film for the first time and retching, wondering what the hell happened to his career. This film was clearly targeted to under 13 girls, and I suspect that they could not even stomach the astoundingly slow pace of the film.

I really enjoyed this movie. My husband and I went to see it at the movies together. This movie is about parental love, finding yourself, first love and the college experience. It talks about how hard it is to live up to someone else expectations. It is a wonderful movie that you can watch with your kids. The actors and actresses are the best. My husband had never seen Katie Holmes in anything before and was as impressed with how expressive her facial features are. She can really express herself with her eyes. She looked crushed, happy, sad, excited, embarrassed and betrayed all with her features. Her words just added to it. Michael Keaton was exceptional as always. Marc Blucas has come a long ways since his Buffy days. You will enjoy the love and happiness that is in this film. JP

I cannot imagine how 11.4% of people that watched this movie can rate it 10. This movie is such a crap! The story is totally predictable and the end, they tried to make it different from the predictable comedy where the girls stays happy with the guy, but they only let the movie got worst! Katie Holmes has a terrible acting,without any life and I think this movie is a total copycat of 'Chasing Liberty'!( If you people never watched Chasing Liberty, I suggest you go, because it's much better than First Daughter and at least is original, since it was made before First Daughter) I really don't know why this movie was made. And if the DVD was mine, I would sell it for sure.

I must be a romantic at heart. I loved the movie, it was great. My two kids loved it. There are not that many movies (that are not animated) that kids can watch. My kids are not the 1st graders, nor are they the pre teens. They fall into the middle, and they loved it. They had a slumber party of kids to watch it in surround sound. The soundtrack is awesome, and the movie flowed very well. Its the type of movie that leaves you with a happy heart and wanting more. Katie was beautiful, my own husband thought she was stunning. Marc was great too, he does the movie very well. The kids keep bugging us wanting to know when part two is coming out. I do hope they do it and not think the reviews were acceptable and back out. They did leave the opening for it, and it would be a lovely ending to the story. Forest Whitaker - Hats off to you. It was excellent.

hey it's a cute movie. I expected it to be a lot worst than it was. I read a lot of reviews for this movie before I saw it. I thought it was going to be really bad. But the acting was awesome and they stayed true to the story. Which makes me think it's a good movie. If you are looking for drama and in-dept insight on being someone that is close to the president, this is not it. But if you are looking for an emotional link to what it's like being a person close to the president, this is IT. Katie Holmes did a great job portraying a first daughter. it wasn't really about breaking out and being wild. it was breaking out and being a human.

key scene: father daughter relationship - when you cut off being the president to be a parent....it was key. Especially if you are getting threats on your family's life EVERYDAY.

but as the plot unraveled I grew into it. Katie Holmes and Marc Blucas have such amazing chemistry in this film. Amerie Rogers makes a brilliant acting debut as well and overall this is a beautiful tribute to the old-fashioned fairytale Cinderella-like love stories we all know and love. I saw this film twice, once in original widescreen and the second time in full screen with the actors' commentaries which was so funny and informative. If you haven't seen the film with the commentaries, please try and do so because you will learn so much more about the film and a lot of other stuff is explained too. The soundtrack is amazing!

We watched the DVD for the first time over the weekend and since then it has been replayed numerous times. Yes, there are parts that are fluffy and not very deep but sometimes we need clean lighthearted fun movies to entertain not educate, make us think or try to shield our children or grandchildren from language, obscenity etc.

I think there was a lot of subtlety in the movie that some may have missed, the callbacks and transitions were interesting. Yeah there were some parts where I wondered what message the Director was trying to get across because the scene seemed a little out of order or at times unnecessary. I agree with others that there were opportunities to develop characters that were not taken up. I hope there is a sequel - there are so many issues that could be explored in a relationship between an Agent and the First Daughter - and last but not least Marc Blucas seems to be under rated as an actor - and he is very easy on the eyes.

Don't get me wrong, it is an OK movie. Not the best but not the worst either... But is it me or is this movie practically the same as *Chasing Liberty* starring Mandy Moore???? It is basically the same plot - daughter of the president of the united states leaves home seeking for some freedom, falls in love with an undercover secret agent and gets her heart broken - They actually both came out around the same time so it's hard to say if one copies the other or what happened here. But they are definitely oddly similar... Both movies are OK, acting is OK too by both Katie Holmes and Mandy Moore. The ending kind of disappointed me in both though. I am not going to spoil it but it did. I liked the ending of First Dauther a little bit better i guess but overall they were just practically the same movie...

First I would like to say THANK YOU!!!

I am hoping that you (Mr.Whitaker) make a sequel... It may not necessarily be a BOX OFFICE money run-away. But it captured the hearts of myself and my friends. Sad but true we've now watched it 10 times. Oh my goodness. I've never watched a movie that much. It's about time a movie can be totally enjoyable without blood, fighting and excessive cursing.

Thank you for laughter, tears, and a warmth in the heart of a woman. This is truly one movie that can be enjoyed by all ages.

My Mom is 75 years old and she generally falls asleep when we watch our Sunday movie...She watched it today and stayed wide-awake the entire movie. At the end she said, that was really good can we watch it again and turn it up so I can hear more of what their saying. Now that's special. Thanks again, D'

Marc Blucas and Katie Holmes both did an outstanding performance. There was such emotion that radiated throughout the various scenes. A person could "feel" the characters. This is a movie I was glad to have watched. There was so much expression displayed through the different emotions that were displayed. A person could really wish to be a President's daughter at times but at other times, not. The story behind this movie was well thought out. Forest Whitaker did a good job of directing this. I watched this movie with my sister and mother - both having enjoyed it. This is a movie I might just go and purchase, instead of rent, because I would actually watch it again. This is the first time I had seen a movie with "Marc Blucas" identified where I actually will remember his name to the character. It would be great to actually meet Marc in person - just to see if his "real person" is similar to his "portrayed person." Alas, that would never happen but it is nice to comment on how I felt about this movie.

The main story line suited my mood, the night I watched First Daughter. I was never a fan of Katie Holmes, and the carry on with Tom Cruise did nothing to endear her to me, and so I was pleasantly surprised by her softly controlled, yet humorous touch, in the part of Samantha. She has lost the permanent smile going sideways and this was a great improvement. Michael Keaton gave a very fine performance, with a subtle approach. Wish he played more light romantic leads, he's good. The story wasn't really strong but I enjoyed and was entertained by all the cast. The young man playing the junior lead (whose name I do not know) was very good indeed. Just enough lust and love, accompanied by angst and he was a pleasing addition. All in all I really liked the whole movie and wish there were more films where I just sat, watched and was entertained as I was by viewing, First Daughter! Signed Helen Young.

definitely the best film about first daughter comparing to "chasing liberty" with Mandy Moore and "Lizzie Mcguire show" with Hillary Duff. Katie Holmes is sweet and cute and i can watch her all the time :P Katie is much more realistic as president's daughter. but of course there is some similarity between these 3 films you don't have to think a lot while watching any of them. there will be prince for the first daughter and a disappointment when she will find out who is he for real. almost the same way like in other titles. anyway i'm not going to tell you the whole story just watch it and watch Katie she looks really really nice in that movie in my opinion :P

First Daughter starring the wonderful Katie Holmes, Michael Keaton and the gorgeous Marc Blucas, is a heart-warming, tear-jerker, romantic movie. The movie is about Samantha (Katie Holmes) who craves to be normal like everyone else but as the First Daughter of the USA it's impossible.

She goes off to college in California where she mets James (Marc Blucas) a gorgeous under-cover secret-service agent. Of course Sam and James fall madly in love but can't be together. You can really feel for James and for Sam as they struggle to live without one another, but of course Sam's dad John does see that no-matter what he and the secret service can't keep Sam and James apart! The on-screen chemistry between Katie Holmes and Marc Blucas is amazing and a truly amazing movie. Hopefully they will be a sequel which I am pinning for.

I very much enjoyed this movie. Movies are not always about reality. It's OK to enjoy a fantasy movie once in a while and live in a dream world. I think Katie Holmes did a wonderful job acting in this movie. I especially enjoyed her movie father (Michael Keaton) and the two main secret service agents. This movie is great for a family to sit together and watch and catch a few laughs. My family got together and watched it and this included a 2, 8, 21, 24, 29, 30, 50 and 52 year old (yes a big family) so it's good for all ages. There are several laughing moments and a few moments where you want to shed a tear. It deals with family value and romance. Everyone experiences that in some way but it's not every day that your dad is a president. But that's OK, it's just a movie. I would tell anyone to watch this movie. I also enjoy this better than Chasing Liberity no matter what anyone says. All in all, it's a good movie.

I didn't have a clue what the movie was about when I went to see it. I was EXTREMELY surprised to find out how great it was.

It mixes "Man On Fire" with "Ever After" and then modern-ized it. All of the Actors were incredible, I was especially happy w/Marc Blucas' performance- He played his part To- A -T! I HIGHLY recommend this movie. If you like adventure, romance, or spy's; It's the film for you.

I've seen it in the theater three times all ready, it stopped showing now, so I'm going to have to wait until it gets to the theater that plays older movies, then I'm going to go see it some more.

It's one of the few movies nowadays that is completely clean, and yet an all around great movie/ no matter how old you are!!

I just got back from this movie and thought it was wonderful. Katie Holmes was great and Marc Blucas was fantastic; the chemistry between them was fantastic.

I have to say, I just read a bunch of reviews and I'm not sure if they saw the same movie I did. The twist they all say was "predictable" still somehow made an entire audience gasp in surprise, and throughout the movie there was a buzz and energy that was unlike anything I've experienced in a movie of late. (I have to say, I am a huge Marc Blucas fan, but even I was unprepared for the overwhelming response he got from this audience. It was truly amazing.)

Yes, there were some threads that could have been explored to make this more about the "issues." And, yes, it was a throwback in a way. Yet it was exactly the kind of movie I wanted to see in this day and age. It entertained me, made me smile. I found it satisfying in every way. (O.k. There was one scene that seemed strangely out of place. But except for that...) If you want to see something fun and innocent and light, I recommend you run, don't walk, to go see this movie now.