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MAIN REVIEW:
Writer and director Paul Weitz has written the scripts for, produced, or directed, sometimes all three, a number of very
fine movies recently. A few examples would be the 1998 feature length cartoon, "Antz," and the 2004 black comedy,
"In His Company." I especially like and admire his 2002 hit, "About a Boy," which, like this movie, stars
Hugh Grant in a less than a likable role. That film is a winner, but not this one.
Hugh Grant as Martin Tweed gives us a good imitation of Simon Cowell, American Idol's acerbic and sardonic British host.
Mandy Moore as Sally Kendoo gives a great composite imitation of all of the annoyingly ambitious but bubble-headed blond teenaged
idols who have done little or nothing to deserve their fifteen minutes of fame.
Dennis Quaid as President Staton nails down pat all of the popular conceptions, or misconceptions, about the intellect
and the private life of our President, George W. In addition, Marcia Gay Harden is perfection personified in her imitation
of First Lady Laura Bush.
Finally, Willem Defoe as President Staton's Chief of Staff, is a very devious man who manipulates his Commander in Chief
like a puppet on a string. Better yet, Defoe is a composite figure of Karl Rove and Vice President Cheney, thus combining
the two liberal bęte noirs of W.'s administration.
With such inspired casting, you would think that this movie would fire on all cylinders, but, I am sorry to say, it doesn't.
What should be funny, isn't. This is one of the worst comedies that I have ever seen as I did not chuckle, much less laugh,
once during the entire movie. In my defense, neither did my wife or anyone else in the theater audience. A group of teenagers
sitting well behind us tittered at a few of what passed for jokes, but that was about it.
I guess that if you love "American Idol," you may possibly find this movie funny, but I don't, and therefore
I didn't.
The one small compliment that I will pay this movie other than its casting is the story of Omer (Sam Golzari), the Iraqi
terrorist who is sent by his commander to the home of some wealthy Iraqi expatriates who live in Los Angeles. Already fascinated
by American musicals, Omer throws his ascetic heritage overboard when he discovers a karaoke stage in the basement of the
home owned by his hosts. This sets up some affectionate tension between him and his cousin when the producers of "American
Dreamz" come calling for some new, more ethnic, contestants besides bubble-headed blondes.
One thought that occurred to me as I sat there suffering mightily throughout this mess was the mental image of the scene
in Mel Brooks' classic comedy, "The Producers," during which the theater patrons are sitting there with their mouths
open in shock while watching the first act of "Springtime for Hitler," his play within a play.
While this movie certainly lacks the utter tastelessness of any musical written about Adolph Hitler, it still is mind-numbing
in the extent of its failure to entertain. Any normal person seeing this movie and sharing the same reaction to it that I
do has to ponder the number of people in Hollywood who must have seen this film and yet still gave it a green light in spite
of its massive shortcomings.
Part of the problem might also be that this film tries to skewer everything including W., conniving White House underlings,
the media, terrorists, vapid talent shows, and more. It's just too much. You throw too much spaghetti at the wall and eventually
all of it falls off. There's too much here and, as a result, none of it works.
Like I have mentioned earlier in my capsule review, any movie that seeks to caricature that which is already a caricature
is doomed to failure. This must be the comedic equivalent of a mathematical equation where two negatives cancel each other
out when multiplied together. After all, the mere existence of these shows, along with the public perception of W.'s intellectual
shortcomings, is already a satirical jab given to us by Life, and I don't find much humor in any of this.
A movie review by Carl Zapffe (04/29/06)
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