What to Stream: Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams Display Real Comedic Chops in 'Dick'

Dick (1999) Amazon Instant and iTunes

The Basics: One of the funniest forgotten comedies of the ‘90s also offers one of the best takes on the Watergate scandal since All the President’s Men.
If You Liked: Dave, The American President and Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion
The Nugget: As the Watergate story threatens to torpedo his presidency, Richard Nixon (Dan Hedaya) seeks counsel from two very unlikely advisors: ditzy high-schoolers Betsy (Kirsten Dunst) and Arlene (Michelle Williams).

1999 is revered in film-buff circles for producing a particularly fine yield of quality films.  Just look at the riches moviegoers were able to sample during those 12 months: Varsity Blues (a stone-cold classic and don’t you forget it), The Matrix, Three Kings, Fight Club, Magnolia and Being John Malkovich. Frequently (and unfairly) left out of the conversation, is Andrew Fleming’s hilarious political comedy, which offers up a daffy, but also strangely plausible version of how the Watergate fiasco went down.  It also features the best-ever screen incarnation of Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon, with beloved character actor Hedaya acting rings around Anthony Hopkins’s higher-profile turn in Oliver Stone’s controversial biopic four years earlier. Sold as a dumb teen-comedy (much like Alexander Payne’s Election, which came out earlier that year and also sank without a trace, though critical acclaim has since made it a favorite), Dick is actually wickedly smart in the way it twists the historical record and reinterprets certain well-known figures: it’s now difficult to watch Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman’s straight-arrow takes on Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein after seeing Will Ferrell and Bruce McCulloch play them as bumbling egomaniacs.  Still, the movie ultimately belongs to its two leading ladies, who share great comic chemistry, together and apart.  Dunst still appears in the occasional comedy (she was very funny in Bachelorette two years ago), but Dick is proof that some filmmaker needs to convince Williams to take a break from playing tragic figures and let her funny flag fly.