Dick (1999)

DICK is kinda limp.  And though you'll likely laugh at DICK, don't 
expect to be fully satisfied by DICK, either.  For starters, DICK 
is too long.  (Think CLUELESS meets ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN as a 
feature-length "Saturday Night Live" skit.)  Early on this isn't a 
particularly prickly problem.  The premise is novel, the girls 
(Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams) are adorable, and Dan Hedaya's 
dead-on as the title character.  (Saul Rubinek's Henry Kissinger is 
remarkably damn funny, too.)  Only in the second hour does DICK get 
stretched too far.  The plot over-complicates and takes one or two 
too-serious turns.  (Come on, do we *really* need a murder attempt 
on the teens?)  Hedaya's "President Johnson" gets sheathed somewhere 
in there, as well.  Thank goodness for scene-stealers Will Ferrell 
and Bruce McCulloch, who ride to the rescue as a bickering Bob 
Woodward and Carl Bernstein.  They keep DICK from causing too much 
discomfort by the long-in-coming climax.  Bottom line:  DICK doesn't 
quick suck.  And though it's only half-erect, it still performs 
better than expected.  You won't walk away stiffed...  With Dave 
Foley, Teri Garr, and Harry Shearer in a couple scenes as G. Gordon 
Liddy.  Co-written and directed by Andrew Fleming (THE CRAFT).  Gale 
Anne Hurd (!) produces.  (Rated "PG-13"/92 min.)

Grade:  B-
        
Copyright 1999 by Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros

Originally posted to triangle.movies as MOVIE HELL: A Male Organ of Copulation

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