Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

trudyr_1999 I had heard about this movie for years and even knew how it ended, but I decided I should finally see it for myself--it was on TCM this past weekend. As a feminist, I was prepared to be offended, but parts of the movie pleasantly surprised me. President Leslie McCloud, well played by Polly Bergen, is a strong, smart woman more than capable of handling the duties of president. And Eli Wallach is very funny as the Castro-like dictator seeking aid for his country. Today the casting of a non-Latino actor in the role wouldn't go over, but Wallach, a gifted character actor, does a good job. The character is a bit stereotypical, but hey, he's a dictator-- we're not supposed to like him. Fred MacMurray's performance is OK--I prefer him cast against type, as in Double Indemnity and The Apartment--but his "first gentleman" character is such a bumbler, until he redeems himself in the congressional hearing, that it's hard to believe he was ever a successful businessman. And Edward Andrews, like Wallach a fine character actor, is excellent as the smarmy senator who had run against McCloud. But the movie finally does a cop-out on the idea of a woman president--she has to resign because she's pregnant! So for most of the film, the script takes the idea of a woman president seriously, and shows Leslie McCloud to be a serious, intelligent, competent one, but in the end biology dictates her destiny. So yes, we needed the women's movement and still do--even in 2016, a lot of Americans wouldn't vote for a woman for president, and don't tell me sexism had nothing to do with it. One more problem: Even though the movie was made at the height of the civil rights movement, the only black character who gets notable screen time is the White House butler.

Robert J. Maxwell Polly Bergen is elected president of the United States (in 1964!) and ex-businessman husband Fred MacMurray must assume the role of "first lady." It sounds stupid and, okay, you may call it a one-premise movie, but not a one-joke movie because there are plenty of relatively unsophisticated laughs.And the laughs build, so to speak, from slight discomfort to slapstick. An example of early self consciousness: MacMurray is assigned to the first lady's bedroom, all fluffy and flouncy, with a dressing table and chintz.Along the way, while his wife is busy with state affairs, MacMurry receives a job offer from a former girl friend who now owns a toilet-accessory business. MacMurray eagerly accepts, wanting to begin a men's line of after-shave colognes with names like "Green Cedar" and "Testosteral" and "Bloodthirsty" and "Ballsy." Well, not those last. I just made them up. The lady in charge, however, Arlene Dahl is interested in the man, not his manly deodorants.There is an embarrassing contretemps too with a visiting Latin American dictator, Eli Wallach, who wants an influx of American dollars. MacMurray manages to offend Wallach, who threatens to sue the United States or go to another foreign country for financial aid.A legislative committee is later formed to investigate the stupidity and incompetence of MacMurray, led by that always reliable pompous blowhard, Edward Andrews. MacMurry exposes Andrews as corrupt, because it develops that Andrews was formerly a partner in the law firm Wallach intends to use in his suit.This sounds shockingly corrupt, doesn't it? Yet, as of this year, a state governor who was previously involved in an extremely expensive health-care scandal signed into law a bill mandating sonograms for women seeking to terminate their pregnancies and one of the chief providers of sonograms in that state is largely owned by the governor's wife. Not a peep. We're not in 1964 anymore, Toto.The least demanding -- and the funniest -- episode comes near the end of the movie. MacMurray is to conduct a guided tour of the White House, a la Jackie Kennedy, but he's a nervous wreck. Two friends have already given him tranquilizers but he's still a neural shambles. The White House physician gives him pep pills that will wake him up and turn him into a shark. Somebody else slips him a double whiskey to calm him down. At this point MacMurray freezes in place behind his desk, assuming an alarming port de bras, holds the pose for a full minute, then leaps to his feet, shouting, "Let's get going!", and throws his jacket on backwards. The results are expectable. He winds up stumbling around before the cameras with one foot in a spitoon. Right out of Laurel and Hardy.Oh, one more gag I feel compelled to throw in. MacMurray, as first lady, has two secretaries but he has trouble with their names. The first one corrects him when he addresses her incorrectly. Then he remarks to the other, "Well, I don't think I'll forget your name, Miss Ives." She replies: "Miss Currier." I laughed out loud and decided to try it in the next meeting of my sociology class. I addressed one of the young students as "Miss Martin." She shook her head slowly, and said "Miss Aston." Nobody laughed. I had to explain the joke -- "Aston-Martin" -- before I roused a couple of polite smiles. No wonder the student evaluations were so low.I know it's silly but I enjoy it on those rare occasions when it's on cable. It's undemanding stuff and everyone needs a laugh now and then. And MacMurray, as he'd already demonstrated numerous times, is an accomplished light comedian.

bkoganbing Though we haven't had to deal with the idea in reality in the USA, several other countries have managed to get along fine with the idea of a female president and the issues that it would bring out. I suppose it would depend on the man the woman was married to.Kisses For My President was a film already behind the times. I think that audiences might have gotten away with during the Thirties when women's suffrage was not yet 20 years old. Maybe Tracy and Hepburn in their prime could have elevated the material to something better than it was. Or Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Russell would have been perfect for the part of the first female president.Not that Polly Bergen and Fred MacMurray aren't fine themselves, in fact Bergen is the best thing in the film. I'm in agreement with the other reviewer who said her scene telling off the smarmy opposition Senator Edward Andrews is her high point. What I can't get is the fact that there apparently was no thought given to just what Fred MacMurray's role would be as first spouse. I mean this is someone who was smart and dynamic enough to have built his own company which he had to sell as a result of his wife's political career success. That in itself makes the entire film one of forced situations.At least MacMurray was smart enough eventually to see through his wife's former Radcliffe roommate and beauty queen and mantrap Arlene Dahl. She was a trap that the ordinary guy would fall into.The closest we've come to this situation in real life is Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin as Vice Presidential candidates. Ferraro's career eventually failed because of the wheeling and dealing of her husband John Zaccaro. Anything I would say about Sarah Palin and Todd would elicit all kinds of comments. But presidential brother Billy Carter caused no end of embarrassment to his brother Jimmy with his letting the Carter name be exploited by all kinds of nefarious people.I think MacMurray had his best moments with those two ancient biddies of Washington society Lillian Bronson and Evelyn Varden. As staff for the First Lady they come with the White House furniture and seem ready to carry on despite the sex of the boss.Kisses For My President could have been a whole lot better though it does have its moments.

edwagreen In 1964 this was considered an outrageous idea: the first female president. How times have changed during the 45 years. Hillary Clinton must laugh up her sleeve when she saw this one; even though she didn't make it in 2008.The film deals with a woman (Polly Bergen) playing our nation's first chief executive. Whether male or female, the president must deal with affairs of international or domestic consideration.We're not interested in a film dealing with the concept of the first husband. Fred MacMurray does an interesting job here. Surprised that Polly Bergen didn't break out in a chorus of Giselle McKenzie's hit-"Hard to Get!"The picture weakens as it goes on since it's hard to keep up the pace with problems associated with a woman in the White House.Those involved with the liberation of women movement would certainly be disheartened by the ending when that famous line is stated: "The president is pregnant!" I think that was a cop-out to the total ideal of the film. The film is comic and somewhat serious by nature. What's to be done by the first husband? Must he assume the traditional roles of the First Lady? That's a pretty interesting point to consider.