American Dreamz

Starring: Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Mandy Moore, Willem Dafoe, Chris Klein, Jennifer Coolidge, Marcia Gay Harden
Directed by: Paul Weitz
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy
2006

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: The host (Hugh Grant) of a musical talent contest has a show featuring a hot contestant (Mandy Moore) and a guest appearance by the President (Dennis Quaid) of the United States. However, there is much more at stake than anyone realizes.

Review:

Tim: This is a film that took a brilliant concept, an incredible cast, and then squanders everything, leaving us with a shadowy hulk of what could have been a great movie. The elements are all here. You have a movie combining the problems of the Bush Administration with the wildly popular “American Idol.” The intersection of these two works better than you might think, and the film could have legitimately had something to say about the current state of this country. Instead, the movie gets lost within itself, and concludes in about as terrible fashion as humanely possible.

This is all so sad because the cast was all brilliantly chosen. Hugh Grant makes an outstanding host of the pop show “American Dreamz.” Dennis Quaid makes a surprisingly good president. Willem Dafoe was well cast as a Dick Cheney-like Chief of Staff. Mandy Moore gets to show off a slightly darker side (although its all played for comedy), and also gets to show off her obvious vocal talents. Even Sam Golzari makes a show-tunes loving terrorist a halfway believable character. However, the cast is given the wrong things to do, and they end up looking ridiculous, all in the right places hitting all the wrong notes in this wayward political comedy.

The movie actually looks as if it is proceeding down a decent path. You don’t really see the signs that the film was awful until the climax (okay, okay, they were probably there the whole time but I was trying to be optimistic). The film’s storylines converge, and at that moment, you recognize what a mess this film ends. The movie ends horribly, and we are given a hasty and shallow conclusion that ruins any good feelings we might have had at various points of this film. American Dreamz should have been better, but it is only another disappointment from Hollywood.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: American Pie, About a Boy