American Dreamz
Universal Pictures | Release Date: April 21, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
15
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Pitched too broadly to get very deeply under your skin. Still, there are some smarts at work here, and it will make you laugh. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeFore
A film with none of the heart that has characterized Weitz's best work and none of the freshness of his most successful. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
To keep his satirist’s street cred, Weitz chases the sentimentality with sour slaps at the audience. But for all its supposed outrageousness, American Dreamz has a soft center. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
The vision of America as a vast, ratings-driven amateur hour is not without promise, but Weitz's movie, named for the most popular TV program in its parallel universe, is disappointingly soft in its individual characterizations. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
As in his previous "In Good Company," Weitz wants too much to like all of his characters, and he wants us to like them too. The result is a movie devoid of any threat, or many laughs, with barn door–broad performances. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Grant, playing a variation on Simon Cowell, resident meanie on "American Idol" and its inspiration, Britain's "Pop Idol," does what's required with seedy panache. Yet the characterization, both as written and acted, lacks a spark. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The only likable characters are ebullient Omer (Sam Golzari), a show-tune-loving reluctant Iraqi suicide bomber who comes to the O.C., and earnest William (Chris Klein), an American GI wounded in Iraq, who are mirror images. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Weitz's idea of satire is generally both ludicrous and mild: exaggerating types, then sentimentalizing them. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Putting it another way: When spoofs of bad singing and songwriting are the sharpest arrows in your quiver, and your politics are diluted until they hit about as hard as someone sticking their tongue out, your satire has a problem. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
Hugh Grant's Martin Tweed is nowhere as menacing (or interesting) as the callous bruiser who makes every episode of American Idol a chilling psychotic adventure. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Gets the details right while missing the big picture. Read full review
50
SlateMichael Agger
As a political statement, American Dreamz is overly didactic and liberal in a read-too-many-blogs sort of way. Read full review
50
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
A moderately engaging satire, some of it amusing and some of it strained, but in considerable measure it reflects a strange circumstance in all our lives. Read full review
40
VarietyRobert Koehler
Combining a gallery of targets including President Bush, "American Idol," the Iraq War and the overarching theme of a nation of citizens held in the thrall of phony dreams, pic and its ambitions are undermined by insistent cartoonishness and comic ineptitude. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
Maybe America will prove me wrong by voting, but I felt like you were holding back until the end. Read full review
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