History Film / Dick

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Kissinger is portrayed as the affable, ignored OnlySaneMan ButtMonkey of the Nixon Administration. In real life, he is considered by many to be a war criminal.

** Additionally, the marijuana-laced cookies the girls give Nixon help the talks with UsefulNotes/LeonidBrezhnev go smoothly, leading to the end of the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar; the eighteen minute gap in Nixon's tapes is because Arlene confessed her love for him on it and he erased the confession; and the two give Nixon the idea to do the V Sign.

** Music/OliviaNewtonJohn's "I Honestly Love You", Arlene's serenade for Nixon on the Watergate tapes, actually didn't make the charts until ''after'' Nixon resigned.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Kissinger is portrayed as the affable, ignored OnlySaneMan ButtMonkey of the Nixon Administration. In real life, he is considered by many to be a war criminal, and [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement that's all that will be said.]]

** Since it's a comedy rather than a {{Docudrama}}, it plays fast and loose with the actual Watergate timeline, which took two years to fully play out.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: By the time of Watergate, Checkers was long dead and Nixon had different dogs, but of course, Checkers is the one most associated with him.
** There is a short line where John Dean asks Nixon if he should be calling the dog King Timahoe by now, implying Nixon just calls all his dogs Checkers.

* BeenThereShapedHistory: In addition to accidentally exposing the entire Watergate scandal Betsy and Arlene teach Nixon the V Sign, and the Hello Dolly cookies they bring in get UsefulNotes/LeonidBrezhnev high and get help the Moscow Summit peace talks run smoothly.

* IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow: Not outright stated, but the eye-rolling response of the Secret Service agents to Henry Kissinger's insistence that he was "discussing foreign policy" with Betsy and Arlene at their earlier meeting is this in all but words:
-->'''Henry Kissinger:''' Don't you give me that look!

* ButtMonkey: Henry Kissinger gets no respect from anyone.

But their naive loyalty is shattered when they discover evidence that Nixon is mean to his dog (oh, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and of his large-scale criminal activities and corruption]]) and vow to bring him down. And so, with the help of the title of Betty's brother's favourite porn movie and the bungling Woodward (Creator/WillFerrell) and Bernstein (Bruce [=McCulloch=]) of the ''Washington Post'', [[MysteriousInformant Deep Throat]] is born...

** Woodward and Bernstein's interview at the opening of the film, which degenerates into a bitchy, passive-aggressive ZeroChops slap fight. It indicates both that these two are buffoonish egotists and that this film will be a rather irreverent take on the Nixon administration.

Betsy (Dunst) and Arlene (Williams) are kind-hearted but [[TheDitz not overly bright]] best friends who, while sneaking out late at night to mail an entry to a "meet Bobby Sherman" contest, inadvertently cause the Watergate break-in to be discovered. Later, on a school trip to the White House, they are recognized and spirited away to be interrogated, which indirectly results in them meeting President Nixon (Hedaya) face to face. Nixon, recognizing their lack of interest in politics of any kind along with their great interest in petting his dog Checkers, buys their silence by naming them the "official White House dog walkers", meaning that they are present for all the major moments of Nixon's presidency.

* CastingGag: Both Dan Hedeya and Creator/SaulRubinek had minor roles in Oliver Stone's ''Film/{{Nixon}}'', a 1995 biopic of Nixon. In this movie, they're promoted to UsefulNotes/RichardNixon and Henry Kissinger respectively.

* ItsAllAboutMe: At one point, Betsy and Darlene happen to catch the tail-end of Nixon's famous "I am not a crook" speech. While this is admittedly after discovering they are under surveillance, having received what are hinted to be some veiled threats from Nixon's goons, and consequently are feeling a bit personally threatened, it nevertheless provokes this particular response:

* CovertPervert: It's hinted that Bernstein is one of these.

* ItsAllAboutMe: At one point, Betsy and Darlene happen to catch the tail-end of Nixon's famous "I am not a crook" speech. While this is admittedly after discovering they are under surveillance and having received what are hinted to be some veiled threats from Nixon's goons, it nevertheless provokes this particular response:

* CelebrityCrush: Arlene is originally infatuated with Bobby Sherman...
** ...before settling on [[{{Squick}} Dick]].

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Kissinger is portrayed as the affable, ignored OnlySaneMan ButtMonkey of the Nixon Administration. In real life, he is considered by many to be a war criminal, and [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement that's all that will be said.]]

A 1999 comedy film, directed by Andrew Fleming and starring Creator/KirstenDunst, Creator/MichelleWilliams, and Dan Hedeya, about a pair of teenage girls bringing about the fall of President UsefulNotes/RichardNixon (yes, that's who the [[IntentionallyAwkwardTitle title]] refers to; [[DoubleEntendre get your mind out of the gutter]]).

** Additionally, the marijuana-laced cookies the girls give Nixon help the talks with UefulNotes/LeonidBrezhnev go smoothly, leading to the end of the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar; the eighteen minute gap in Nixon's tapes is because Arlene confessed her love for him on it and he erased the confession; and the two give Nixon the idea to do the V Sign.

* SeventiesHair: Carl Bernstein sports a luxurious pompadour, spoofing Dustin Hoffman's look in ''Film/AllThePresidentsMen''.