American Dreamz (2006) October 15, 2006
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Paul Weitz
Reality TV shows, especially those that focus on finding new pop stars, have become somewhat of a scheduling obsession over the past few years. Everyone wants to be the next big thing and of course, rake in the fame, popularity, and truckloads of cash that come with that. It wasn’t going to be long before talent-based reality TV had it’s cinematic send-up. I’m almost surprised it took this long.
In this film, American Dreamz is the number one rated show in the US. Its next season is about to start and the hunt for new and ‘different’ contestants has begun. Meanwhile, the newly re-elected President of the United States is having a crisis of heart. With popularity ratings down, his aide books him to be a judge on the American Dreamz finale. When a young Arab boy, Omer Obeidi, is picked to take part, terrorist leaders grab their chance to use him as a soldier of fortune. They tell him he must make it to the final show, so that he can detonate a bomb on stage with the president.
I really enjoyed writer/director Paul Weitz’s last movie In Good Company, which was a very smart romantic comedy with some well-drawn characters and an interesting premise. This movie is heavier handed than In Good Company, although it does deal with real subjects (terrorism, fame), and characters based (at least in part) on real people. I guess it’s hard to be quite so subtle when you’re playing the US President for comic effect to make him more realistic.
The narrative structure is generally good, and despite the numerous different story threads it never fails to make sense. It’s just that because the characters plotlines are so separated the movie ultimately lacks focus. Especially the scenes with the president, which could have come out of a completely different film, since his storyline barely interacts with that of the TV show until the very end. And the ending is in fact the movies biggest disappointment, descending into a bit of a farce instead of the clever satire I’d hoped for.
But don’t get me wrong, this film is still very funny with the principal cast all performing strongly. Hugh Grant is very natural as the egotistical show producer & presenter, Dennis Quaid & Willem Dafoe play well as the president and loyal aide, even Mandy Moore is fun as a desperate wannabe starlet. Sam Golzari also deserves a special mention for his role as Omer, probably the least offensive terrorist ever. The script has lots of fun taking jabs at television, wannabes, famous people, the government, terrorism, pretty much everything actually.
Unfortunately, I don’t think that this movie quite accomplishes everything it sets out to. The extended ‘tagline’ lays the inital idea out: “Imagine a country where the President never reads the newspaper, where the government goes to war for all the wrong reasons, and more people vote for a pop idol than their next President”. American Dreamz is not the social commentary it thinks it is, the film is too slapstick for that. It does have plenty of laughs though, and as a piece of entertainment it serves up an enjoyable tale until the final 10 minutes.
Comments»
no comments yet - be the first?