Protocol

The very first scene of "Protocol" is all wrong: Goldie Hawn (again playing a sweet ditz) holds up traffic on a busy Washington, D.C. street when her car breaks down. Not only has her engine blown but she can't get out of the car because the door is also broken. Who wrote this? Buck Henry?!! Hard to believe, but it gets worse. Hawn saves a Middle Eastern leader from being assassinated and becomes the toast of the town--but only until jealous and nefarious White House insiders attempt to make her look foolish. Goldie Hawn only looks foolish when she's required to act too dippy for her age, but I cannot think of any "young" actress who could've gotten away with this role either. Early on there's a bouncy press-conference sequence with many funny lines, but too often the script is loaded down with groaners. An uncontrolled party scene near the finish brings everything to a screeching halt, with characters we don't like acting even more moronic than usual. It nearly makes "Private Benjamin" look like Shakespeare. ** from ****

First the standard/boring parts. I am not particularly a fan of Goldie Hawn, or the other actors. As with many politics movies, this one has "a nobody" plucked from obscurity and thrust to the attention of the nation. International relations and diplomacy are 'the angle' to which this movie enters Hollywood's political lansdcape. It is not done particularly well.

Now to the reason I am writing this review.. a day after I watched the movie. The movie has a low key element to it. That is it does not attempt to be bigger than what it is. As a result, it helps to normalize politics. Makes a case that anyone can become a politician. I consider that to be an important message. Now in the 2020s.. more than ever.. there is this political class. Big money is more involved than ever.

I did not think I would be writing a review for this movie as the closing credits rolled up (I rarely write any). Let alone that it would be a positive one... or at least have a positive aspect to it. Yet, here we are. It is what it is.

If the Sultan of Brunei ever saw this film it would be banned in Brunei and who's to say he hasn't seen it. Clearly the Moslem potentate on whom Robert Romanus's character is based is him, a person with large appetites for pleasure. If eating was his number one thing he'd be the late King Farouk of Egypt.

But this is a man who likes to keep his harem filled and while on a visit to the USA he's nearly assassinated but for the intervention of plucky cocktail waitress Goldie Hawn. The girl becomes an instant celebrity with her infectious and sunny personality. In fact that's Goldie's character name, Sunny Ann Davis.

She lives in Washington, DC a place of power and intrigue and with Romanus intrigued with her, some would be power brokers in our State Department decide she is just the person with the right leverage with Romanus to negotiate a treaty for an American base in his country. And what do we give him in return?

All I can say there is Goldie is hardly the type to assume a woman's place in a Moslem country.

Protocol is a one woman show for Goldie Hawn and she delivers in style. Also delivering nice performances are a pair of State Department connivers who dream up this scheme, Ed Begley,Jr., and Gail Strickland. They contrast with Chris Sarandon who resigns the Department rather than be a marriage broker. Hawn and Sarandon are like Judy Holliday and William Holden from Born Yesterday. At least you like to think Billie Dawn might have used her celebrity there the way Hawn uses it in Protocol.

Nicely done Goldie Hawn. You really do speak to the average American here.

If you like Goldie Hawn, you might like this story about a wide-eyed girl who happens to foil an assassination, then--because of her folksy charm--is hired by the Dept. of Protocol.

"Protocol" is a comedy with a moral. It's nearly impossible to miss the parallels with "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and, even more "Born Yesterday", (in which Judy Holliday plays the Washington neophyte who finds that civic duty requires her to educate herself in the basics of politics). Goldie plays the part of Sunny with her usual plucky charm. She is surrounded by a sharp cast, but she carries the film as she does most of her films. The writing, by Buck Henry, takes shots at the media, the government, foreign affairs, and the office of the Vice President. Its style is somewhat reminiscent of Elaine May.

Overall, this film is lightweight, even with its serious call for self-education in government affairs. It is not Ms. Hawn's best, but amusing nonetheless.

PROTOCOL(1984) Goldie Hawn, Chris Sarandon, and Richard Romanus.

In this film, Hawn plays Sunny Davis, a ditzy cocktail waitress who becomes famous around america after she saves a man from an assassination attempt. She gets offered a job working at Washington D.C.

This was an above average comedy, but not as good as some of Goldies' other films.(such as Overboard, Housesitter, and Seems like Old Times)But i did laugh a lot. So if you enjoy a cute comedy, I would recommend this movie.

PROTOCOL: 6.4/10

PG; some sexual humor, brief language, and mild violence.