American Dreamz
Universal Pictures | Release Date: April 21, 2006
4.5
USER SCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 53 Ratings
USER RATING DISTRIBUTION
Positive:
16
Mixed:
13
Negative:
24
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User Reviews

User scoreBy dateMost helpful
7
JHDec 3, 2006
This isn't the best movie I've seen this year (2006; the best is Borat!), but it is worth renting. Mandy Moore is luscious, and Hugh Grant does a great spoof on that Simon guy from American Idol.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
8
RonL.Apr 21, 2006
First of all let me say this: A lot of critics are calling this movie a satire, it is actually political commentary about how stupid we as Americans have become. It is excellent and intelligent. It mirrors both our ridiculous obsession with First of all let me say this: A lot of critics are calling this movie a satire, it is actually political commentary about how stupid we as Americans have become. It is excellent and intelligent. It mirrors both our ridiculous obsession with pop culture and our ignorance to the way our nation is governed. I think anyone with a keen eye can… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
9
DaveFNov 10, 2006
Biting, incisive, and honest satire of America, Americans, and...terrorists. Much more nuanced than the red-scorers would have you believe, American Dreams mixes blithe South park subversion with amiable Airplane slapstick. A dreamz come Biting, incisive, and honest satire of America, Americans, and...terrorists. Much more nuanced than the red-scorers would have you believe, American Dreams mixes blithe South park subversion with amiable Airplane slapstick. A dreamz come true for anyone who reads The Onion or watches the Daily Show.… Expand
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8
KathyS.Apr 30, 2006
It's worth the price of admission just to see Tony Yalda as the flamboyant American Muslim who is desperate to appear on American Dreamz. The entire cast is delightful, especially Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, and Sam Golzari.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
7
PeteM.Aug 26, 2006
This film is certainly a blunt instrument with very obvious biases, but there it definitely has its fair share of hysterical moments. While, I think there
0 of 0 users found this helpful
8
JayS.Apr 21, 2006
The critics got this one wrong. This is a black comedy (not a spoof) and as such hits many correct notes. For instance, the president in this picture is more sophisticated, not less, and speaks more clearly, not less, than president Bush. The critics got this one wrong. This is a black comedy (not a spoof) and as such hits many correct notes. For instance, the president in this picture is more sophisticated, not less, and speaks more clearly, not less, than president Bush. The audience I was in laughed throughout, not like some Hollywood so called comedies where there is nary a peep for 2 hours. If you like dark comedies which tell a certain truth about the less cheerful side of life, give this movie a chance.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
7
KyleG.Apr 24, 2006
It was my American Idol obsession that drew me to theaters, and similar reasoning for why I enjoyed the movie. The plot was odd, the characters were bland, and much of the acting was questionable. I dont think this is a "spoof" or a "satire" It was my American Idol obsession that drew me to theaters, and similar reasoning for why I enjoyed the movie. The plot was odd, the characters were bland, and much of the acting was questionable. I dont think this is a "spoof" or a "satire" because most of this movie's content is true. The manipulation and that power that pop culture holds over our society is undeniable. The only not believeable parts of this movie is the outlandish ending.... oh and that the president is remotely likable. For what it was, American Dreamz was worth seeing... but if you really love dark comdey, I would suggest the likes of "Drop Dead Gorgeous".… Expand
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7
MarkB.Apr 24, 2006
The real surprise in writer-director Paul Weitz's two-for-the-price-of-one satire on George W. Bush's Presidential administration and American Idol is NOT that Weitz picked what are probably the two easiest and most obvious targets The real surprise in writer-director Paul Weitz's two-for-the-price-of-one satire on George W. Bush's Presidential administration and American Idol is NOT that Weitz picked what are probably the two easiest and most obvious targets available in American culture today, but that he nevertheless succeeded in getting so much freshness and mileage out of them for most of the way. As clueless, just-reelected President Staton (Dennis Quaid) discovers the greatness of reading newspapers, which leads him to slip into a funk over both the enormity of his job and the fact that he's nowhere near up to it, he's booked by his handlers as a guest judge on the phenomenally popular TV talent show of the movie's title, whose most popular contestants are Sally Kendoo (Mandy Moore), a manipulative, psuedo-innocent all-American cross between the first American Idol's Kelly Clarkson and the current one's Kellie Pickler, and Omer (Sam Golzari), an Iraqi would-be terrorist who loves show tunes and sings them with such effervescent joy that America is completely won over. Lots of funny lines and accurate observations of showbiz both Hollywood- and Washington-style help, and so do some great song parodies that, in true Spinal Tap/ Mighty Wind fashion, are almost indistinguishable from the real thing, but the performances really make this fly. Hugh Grant is perfectly cast as the show's self-loathing, Simon Cowell-like host; Moore, here as in Saved!, may be a nice person in real life but plays conniving, self-serving hypocrisy so well you'd think she invented it; Golzari's song-and-dance performances (particularly "The Impossible Dream") are both as sidesplitting and as weirdly lovable as Weitz no doubt wants them to be; Marcia Gay Harden as the First Lady demonstrates why it's easy for some people to thoroughly detest George W. but still like Laura; and Quaid sidesteps much of the obvious buffoonery inherent in his role with a subtle, even sympathetic characterization. In fact, if you bought the DVD of Fahrenheit 9/11 the day it came out and have watched it at least half a dozen times since, you're likely to feel that the movie takes it much too easy on Bush...but then one of Weitz's most distinctive characteristics as a writer-director is the fundamental kindheartedness he shows toward all of his characters; it's what made the original American Pie one of the few teen raunchfests that intelligent adults caenjoy without shame, and it manifests itself here again when Weitz gives the otherwise despicable Sally a convincing speech about her childhood that explains why she's the way she is. On the other hand, the Dick Cheney/ Karl Rove-like Chief of Staff played by Willem Dafoe doesn't quite work; nothing wrong with the actor, but there's no sense of right-wing entitlement here, no deeply felt belief in the ends always justifying the means that really would've allowed Dafoe to nail his parody. And the other contestants (including the inevitable Whitney Houston wannabe and--of course!--a Clay Aiken type) are so funny that it's a real shame that they're hustled on and off-stage so quickly. Weitz's greatest liability, however, is his surprisingly, jarringly cynical climax and conclusion (faintly and oddly remiscent of a plot twist in An Officer and a Gentleman), which under most circumstances would earn the writer praise for being uncompromising, but in this specific instance is so sour, unconvincing, hectoring and preachy that it undercuts the 95% of a movie that is so bright, likable and subtle that it its best it resembles Michael Ritchie's sunny mid-1970s middle-America satires Smile and the original Bad News Bears and sends its audience home with a really acrid aftertaste. With all the end-of-year Oscar bait mostly behind us and the summer blockbusters yet to come, it's become popular (and redundant) year after year to complain that nothing good comes out in the spring. Well, talented individuals like Weitz and Spike Lee (inside Man) prove that this is a fallacy: they DO come out with original, imaginative stuff in the spring. They both just seem to, in these specific cases, have trouble coming up with good endings!… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
9
HollyApr 28, 2006
This movie was the best. I really liked it..love the very dry humor. fantastic.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
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