American Dreamz (2006, DVD)

I just got back from seeing American Dreamz at the local theater. On the whole, it was an average film for me. Some things worked, some things didn t. I m glad I saw it but don t feel the need to see the film again when it comes to DVD.

The Plot
American Dreamz is mainly a satire of two things: the American Idol TV show and the Bush administration. The show has picked its newest crop of finalists, including perky but manipulative Sally Kendoo (Mandy Moore) and Omer (Sam Golzri), failed wanna-be terrorist sent to California to be out of the way. After disappearing for a few weeks to read newspapers, President Staton (Dennis Quaid) goes on a publicity blitz that culminates in an appearance as guest judge on American Dreamz.

What I Liked
There are some funny moments of dry humor in the film. Quaid really carried the show for me with his portrayal of the bumbling president. My husband and I kept repeating his lines on the way home. Examples: Did you know there are two kinds of Iraqistanis? and I think I m kind of a placebo. Tony Yalda is also great as Omer s eccentric cousin.

Although this film makes fun of everyone a bit, some of the characters are surprisingly likable. I found myself particularly attached to Omer, who really seems to have a good heart and is stuck in a difficult political time. Sam Golzri was a great choice for the role. I couldn t help but smile when he was singing his show tunes, even in the terrorist camp. Marcia Gay Harden is also fairly likable as First Lady Staton.

The film does make some smart and interesting comments about politics and reality television. Since I ve watched quite a few episodes of American Idol, I thought the scenes showing an awareness of the human interest element critical to the show s success were particularly on target. The public isn t really voting for the singing, is it? The political commentary had some good points as well. Interestingly, President Staton s Chief of Staff (Willem Defoe) really comes off looking the worst in the film. The President is portrayed as a bumbling but basically harmless guy while his VP is a power-hungry manipulator.

What I Didn t Like
This is a decent film but it could have been really great. I was disappointed by how little the filmmakers did with the American Dreamz portion of the show. I m not sure whether they feared an angry reprisal from American Idol or what, but they really gloss over the contestant selection and skip pretty much straight to the final three. There is a quick montage of show producer Martin Tweed s (Hugh Grant) negative comments to the contestants which is very funny, and gives a glimpse of what could have been done with the material. This film suffers a bit from the Date Movie mistake of thinking that just referencing a thing is the same as satirizing it.

American Dreamz is a bit of a slow starter. Clips are shown from several different locations and a lot of backstory is given. It s probably about a half hour before all the characters are introduced and the movie picks up steam. The backstory is a bit complicated but I think the process could have been speeded up. I actually noticed some folks left the theater after about a half hour. They could have been offended, I guess, but more likely were just bored. Even once the film gets going a few parts drag. Mandy Moore sings several songs. While I understand wanting to showcase her voice, adding a couple of whole songs into a film definitely slows the momentum. I could guess what was going to happen very early in the film and I found myself bored several times.

The film had a lot of parts that made me smile and a few that made me giggle, but very little that made me laugh out loud. This may just be because much of the material is a bit overused, as are satire films in general as of late. For example, much of the Bush spoof material is substantially similar to the almost weekly performances on Saturday Night Live. The film also gets surprisingly deep at the end which is okay, I guess, but certainly not what I expected.

Overall
This film was okay. It had some entertaining parts and the actors do a very good job with the material they are given. However, pacing was a problem for me and I didn t find the film quite as funny as I hoped, given the fact that it is being advertised as a comedy. In my opinion, American Dreamz is a good idea that deserved a little better execution.