Similar films seek viewers

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Sometimes the world gets two asteroid movies, sometimes we get two (or three) movies about kids switching bodies with their parents.

This election year is apparently a time that requires two romantic comedies about presidential daughters. Following January's "Chasing Liberty," the new "First Daughter" opens in theaters on Friday, although both were shot at about the same time by different studios.

A look at how the similarly themed films compare:

THE STORY

"First Daughter" -- The president's college-bound daughter feels trapped in the rarefied environment of the White House and is longing for some freespirited adventure away from the glare of reporters and the Secret Service.

"Chasing Liberty" -- The president's teenage daughter feels trapped in the rarefied environment of the White House and is longing for some freespirited adventure away from the glare of reporters and the Secret Service.

THE STUDIO

"First Daughter" -- 20th Century Fox.

"Chasing Liberty" -- Warner Bros.

THE DAUGHTER

"First Daughter" -- Katie Holmes stars as Samantha Mackenzie. Holmes, 25, starred as a wayward young girl who comes to term with her troubled family in last year's "Pieces of April" and also starred as a girl named Joey in the tearjerker teen TV show "Dawson's Creek."

"Chasing Liberty" -- Mandy Moore starred as Anna Foster. The pop-singing Moore, 20, played a wayward young girl who comes to term with her troubled family in last year's "How to Deal" and starred as a girl named Jamie in the tearjerker teen movie "A Walk to Remember."

THE DIRECTOR

"First Daughter" -- Forest Whitaker, veteran character actor from such movies as "The Crying Game," "Panic Room" and "Species," making his third feature film after "Hope Floats" and "Waiting to Exhale."

"Chasing Liberty" -- Andy Cadiff, veteran TV director of such shows as "Growing Pains," "Home Improvement" and "Spin City," making his second feature-film after 1997's "Leave It To Beaver" remake.

THE DAD

"First Daughter" -- President Mackenzie is played by Michael Keaton, who was "Batman" in 1989 as millionaire Bruce Wayne, a superhero vigilante mourning for his deceased parents.

"Chasing Liberty" -- President Foster is played by Mark Harmon, who played a bat man in 1988's "Stealing Home" as a washed-up baseball player in mourning for his deceased childhood sweetheart.

QUOTES

"First Daughter" -- Holmes teases her love interest: "One quick call to the FBI or the CIA and I can get your blood type, third-grade class picture and satellite pictures of your ex-girlfriends' homes."

"Chasing Liberty" -- Moore to her father in the Oval Office: "You had that restaurant swarming with all your Secret Service. You ruined my date, and now I'm going to die before I ever get to third base! ... I mean, second."

THE TRAILER

"First Daughter" -- Holmes is shown talking to her parents in an ordinary room, then shot zooms out the window to show the White House. The overzealous Secret Service spoils her swimming party. A befuddled Keaton, as the most powerful political figure in the world, awkwardly tries to comfort his daughter by pretending to have baked chocolate cake.

"Chasing Liberty" -- Moore is shown dancing around an ordinary bedroom, then the shot zooms out the window to show the White House. The overzealous Secret Service spoils her date in a fancy restaurant.

A befuddled Harmon, as the most powerful political figure in the world, awkwardly asks his cabinet advisers what exactly his daughter meant by "getting to third base."

THE BOYFRIEND

"First Daughter" -- "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" actor Marc Blucas plays James Lansome, the student dorm supervisor whose budding romance with the president's daughter is threatened when she suspects he may be an undercover Secret Service bodyguard. Can true love survive a betrayal with good intentions?

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