American Dreamz
MOVIE REVIEW -- AMERICAN DREAMZ:
I saw this for free at Universal this weekend, but I can see why it bombed at the box office. I don't think people knew what to make of this movie, and that held true for me after I had seen it as well. With a great cast and a premise rife with comedic potential, ya have to ask yourself: what went wrong here? Basically, this movie just has a jumpy, tonally inconsistent script that has few moments that are actually, you know, funny. It seems like the premise of this movie is just begging for a movie that plays in an off the wall, anything-goes, Zucker brothers satirical style a la Hot Shots or Airplane. And yet, the humor is surprisingly restrained and inconsistent. For some reson, each character is given a totally unnecessary personality twist in the course of the movie that leaves you scratching your head. Rather than go all out, for example, in making fun of Dennis Quaid as Bush, the movie eventually tries to make us root for the bumbling president as he rebels against his controlling V.P. -- but all we really want is for him to act stupid and make us laugh. And the character we DO want to root for - Mandy Moore as Sally Kendoo, a Kelly Clarkson meets Britney Spears girl next door, morphs from likable protaganist to cold hearted manipulator as the movie goes on, and we don't really know what to think about that, either. It's like they're trying to suffocate what should be a funny satire by smothering it with unnecessary complexity and weird character shifts. It's too bad, because you have William Dafoe, Marcia Gay-Harden, Dennis Quaid, Hugh Grant, and one of the more promising former teen pop stars, Mandy Moore. And this great cast is mostly wasted. Sadly, one of the main sources of humor in the movie is just watching talents like Quaid and Dafoe playing as Bush and Cheny, and Grant as a bored, insecure, snide hybrid of Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell. There are scattered laughs, but there's probably only one real consistently funny character (the lead terrorists' flamboyant cousin). It just seems like every opportunity for hilarity is given a great setup but no punch line. Every scene that SHOULD be funny isn't. A chassidic Jew on American Idol? SHOULD be funny - but is never really given a proper punch line - they never did anything with the funny idea. A sequence that parodies American Idol contestants like Constantine and Fantasia? SHOULD be funny, but isn't - it's played way too straight to get many laughs. The whole premise of this movie SHOULD be hilarious - it's a perfect setup to satirize current politics and pop culture. I love the concept of a bumbling President with sagging popularity going on American Idol as a judge to win over the American public. And i love the idea of a terrorist cell sending one of their own to enter the competition, advance to the finals as a lovable William Hung-esque novelty act, in an effort to get in front of the President and assasinate him on live TV. This could and should have been great. Instead it was mostly, ironically enough, a bomb.
My grade: C
I saw this for free at Universal this weekend, but I can see why it bombed at the box office. I don't think people knew what to make of this movie, and that held true for me after I had seen it as well. With a great cast and a premise rife with comedic potential, ya have to ask yourself: what went wrong here? Basically, this movie just has a jumpy, tonally inconsistent script that has few moments that are actually, you know, funny. It seems like the premise of this movie is just begging for a movie that plays in an off the wall, anything-goes, Zucker brothers satirical style a la Hot Shots or Airplane. And yet, the humor is surprisingly restrained and inconsistent. For some reson, each character is given a totally unnecessary personality twist in the course of the movie that leaves you scratching your head. Rather than go all out, for example, in making fun of Dennis Quaid as Bush, the movie eventually tries to make us root for the bumbling president as he rebels against his controlling V.P. -- but all we really want is for him to act stupid and make us laugh. And the character we DO want to root for - Mandy Moore as Sally Kendoo, a Kelly Clarkson meets Britney Spears girl next door, morphs from likable protaganist to cold hearted manipulator as the movie goes on, and we don't really know what to think about that, either. It's like they're trying to suffocate what should be a funny satire by smothering it with unnecessary complexity and weird character shifts. It's too bad, because you have William Dafoe, Marcia Gay-Harden, Dennis Quaid, Hugh Grant, and one of the more promising former teen pop stars, Mandy Moore. And this great cast is mostly wasted. Sadly, one of the main sources of humor in the movie is just watching talents like Quaid and Dafoe playing as Bush and Cheny, and Grant as a bored, insecure, snide hybrid of Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell. There are scattered laughs, but there's probably only one real consistently funny character (the lead terrorists' flamboyant cousin). It just seems like every opportunity for hilarity is given a great setup but no punch line. Every scene that SHOULD be funny isn't. A chassidic Jew on American Idol? SHOULD be funny - but is never really given a proper punch line - they never did anything with the funny idea. A sequence that parodies American Idol contestants like Constantine and Fantasia? SHOULD be funny, but isn't - it's played way too straight to get many laughs. The whole premise of this movie SHOULD be hilarious - it's a perfect setup to satirize current politics and pop culture. I love the concept of a bumbling President with sagging popularity going on American Idol as a judge to win over the American public. And i love the idea of a terrorist cell sending one of their own to enter the competition, advance to the finals as a lovable William Hung-esque novelty act, in an effort to get in front of the President and assasinate him on live TV. This could and should have been great. Instead it was mostly, ironically enough, a bomb.
My grade: C
posted by Danny B at 11:47 PM
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