Universal Pictures Starring: Dennis Quaid, Hugh Grant, Mandy Moore
Directed By: Paul Weitz
Rated: PG-13
Universal Pictures
American Dreamz was a movie that quietly came and went at the theaters--with good reason for the most part. I honestly wouldn't have seen it at all except for two things--my friend Mark was in town and he wanted to see it, and I saw CNN showing lots of clips of the film because it pokes fun (unmercifully) at President Bush. Mark's my friend and I wanted to entertain him, but I could have probably talked him into Silent Hill instead. But the Bush-bashing put it over the top. Any film that makes fun of our dimwitted Commander-in-Chimp can't be all bad.
"Not all bad" is probably the best thing you can say about this film. In recent memory, I can't recall a film that spent so much time struggling to bring its disparate elements together. At the start of the film, we're introduced to Martin Tweed (Grant), the pompous British host of "American Dreamz" (dreams with a "z"), a television singing competition that is a send-up of American Idol. Tweed is the Simon Cowell of the show (without the buffering influence of a Randy Jackson or a Paula Abdul). He hates the show. He hates the contestants. He's very unpleasant.
Next, jump to the president of the United States, one President Staton (Quaid). He's just been re-elected, and he's exhausted from his campaign. There is no mistaking the fact that Staton is modeled on George W. Bush--he's a buffoon who has trouble putting his meager thoughts into words, and is led around and told what to do by his chief of staff (played by Willem Dafoe, who is wasted in the role). The difference between Staton and Bush is that Staton has decided to spend some time alone reading--and he starts learning things that his staff isn't telling him. And he's motivated to continue learning, much to his chief of staff's annoyance.
Now, jump to a terrorist training camp in the Middle East. The terrorists are in the process of making a motivational training film. The problem is that one of the terrorists-in-training, Omer (Sam Golzari), is obviously not cut out for the job. He keeps flubbing the takes, and is eventually sent back to his tent. That night, he is discovered singing show tunes in his tent. Apparently he wants to be a singer. His terrorist pals decide to send him off to America to live with his relatives and be a sleeper agent--one that they never intend to activate.
Finally, we meet Sally Kendoo (Moore), an aspiring singer from the midwest. She wants to be on American Dreamz.
Now, we're about 45 minutes into this film. Where the heck is all of this going?
Suffice it to say, the elements do come together--eventually. But by the time they do, the film has lost all hope of any kind of momentum. While it has its humorous moments, the lack of a story that anyone could possibly follow properly kills its chances of being consistently funny. What the film could have used was a couple of good edits--one to the script and the other to the film itself. This hour and forty-seven-minute yawner could have been a tight, hour and twenty-minute parody that really worked. Ah, well...
Bottom line: A promising parody of the president and American Idol that is ruined by a confusing script and meandering editing.