Oh Roland Emmerich.  I love you and your absolutely crazypants way of channeling the American psyche.  The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, Independence Day…hell, I even enjoyed your Godzilla.  Because even with all the preposterous bombastic goings-on, your movies have heart.  Now, with White House Down, you’ve whipped up another mix of patently unbelievable but still compelling and enjoyable fluff.  Dude, thank you.

With White House Down — not to be confused with Olympus Has Fallen from earlier this year — there’s the typical President-in-peril plotline.  The Prez is at risk, and it’s up to someone who has never reached his potential to save the day.  Though I find it hard to believe that Channing Tatum has never reached his potential.  Phwoar.

Tatum plays Cale, a DC cop that is looking to become a Secret Service agent.  He scores an interview, along with passes to the White House so he can bring his President-fannish daughter along.  But wouldn’t you know it, just as soon as Cale gets the heave-ho from his interview (it didn’t help that he was being interviewed by Agent Finnerty, a woman who knew him back in his crazy frat-boy days), a group of scary paramilitary psychos take over the White House.  The psychos kill everyone that’s holding a gun, leaving Cale, Our Hero, to save the day.  But how’s he gonna get the Prez and his own daughter out of there alive?  The best way America knows how; superior firepower baby.

In White House Down you get the same kind of rollercoaster ride you had when you saw Independence Day.  It’s a little nutty, absolutely unbelievable, and really, really fun.  C’mon; you have the President of the United States with a rocket launcher.  Now THAT’S America, baby!  You also have a cast that’s not only game for the ride, but damn talented.  I have to admit that I was worried about Jamie Foxx as the President; I figured an Oscar winner may go a bit stir crazy in a genre film like this.  But then I remembered his cool, even-handed performance in Django Unchained.  Foxx delivers the funny while still making you believe that this guy could run the free world.  A part of that is thanks to the entertaining screenplay by James Vanderbilt that manages to balance pithy quips with realistic-sounding dialogue between characters.

What’s fun with a Roland Emmerich film is the ability to play Foreshadow Bingo.  Someone keeps a pocketwatch close to his heart?  Someone’s on his last week of the job?  You can probably guess that someone’s life is gonna get saved, and someone else is gonna have a crappy end to a career.  But my favorite part of this film as a whole is that the Big Bads of the show actually care when their comrades fall.  Unlike so many movies where the bad guys swarm like ants — and are ignored when they fall — these bad guys, led by killer-for-hire Stenz (Jason Clarke, Zero Dark Thirty), get upset and angry when they see the death of their friends.  It’s a refreshing change and makes the film feel a little more grounded.

Casting high-powered stars that can carry off bombastic premises also helps.  Maggie Gyllenhaal as Finnerty, James Woods as Secret Service boss Walker,  fantastic character actor Richard Jenkins (Cabin in the Woods) as Senator Raphelson, and Lance Reddick (The Wire) all deliver performances that lift White House Down up from the usual high-octane thrill ride and into a place that may not be high art, but ain’t too shabby either.  Tatum acquits himself well in this role, and his onscreen buddy-chemistry with Foxx is a hoot.  He also has a nice connection with Rachelle Lefevre (the original Victoria in the Twilight films) as his ex-wife, and Joey King (Crazy, Stupid, Love) as his spirited but not stupid daughter Emily.

White House Down probably isn’t gonna win any awards for authenticity, but it’s fun to think that this movie shows what the Secret Service would do during times of extreme crisis.  Plus, there’s all the amazing FX you expect from Emmerich.  (The scene where the Capitol dome crumbles is especially moving.)  White House Down is a throwback to the films of the mid-20th Century, where nice guys finish first and bad guys finish last.  Far-fetched and unbelievable, just like Independence Day.  And just as much fun.  Maybe even more so.  Now can someone tell me why every computer hacker in film today dresses like J.P. from Grandma’s Boy?