SUMMARY:

At the center of the story is a television show called AMERICAN DREAMZ. Bumbling President Joe Staton (Dennis Quaid) is booked on it in order to boost his popularity. Sally Kendoo (Mandy Moore) wants to win it at any cost. And inept Arab terrorist Omer (Sam Golzari) is under orders to win it so he can blow the president up on national television. At the center of it all is smarmy British host, Martin Tweed (Hugh Grant).

STEVE SAYS:

What a load of crap. Perhaps I might have warmed to this mess a little if I were a devoted fan of AMERICAN IDOL, which I am decidedly not. I am one of six people in the western hemisphere who has failed to see the charm of this televised amateur show. The fact that more people vote in it than vote for President of the United States is a shameful commentary on the troubled times in which we live. But I’ll save that rant for another time.

It seemed to me that writer/director Paul Weitz (AMERICAN PIE, ABOUT A BOY) went a little crazy on this one. Let’s make fun of AMERICAN IDOL. Let’s make fun of George W. Bush. Let’s make fun of Arab terrorists. It’s a little like trying to hit a bullseye with a shotgun.

First, a send-up if IDOL might have been fun if Weitz had narrowed his sights on that objective. Why throw in everything up to and including the kitchen sink? And, of course, it commits the unpardonable sin for any comedy...it isn’t funny. I may have smiled once, but there was not a single laugh-out-loud moment to be found in this hodge-podge.

Since George W. Bush has become a parody of himself, the notion of satirizing him on film seems to be gilding the lily. To his credit, Dennis Quaid captures the density and perpetual befuddlement of our chief executive, but to what end? Willem Dafoe appears as an amalgam of Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, two men whom I don’t find to be the least bit funny.

Oh and speaking of not funny...how about goofy terrorists? While everyone is wringing their hands wondering if it’s too soon to release FLIGHT 93 only four and a half years after 9/11, we are treated to loveable terrorists bumbling through their effort to blow the President of the United States to bits. Yeah. Funny stuff.

Mandy Moore is okay as the ALL ABOUT EVE style ingénue who will do anything to win the top spot on American Dreamz. It’s a role that anyone could have played as well and will do nothing to enhance Moore’s standing in the industry.

Her mother is played by the hilarious Jennifer Coolidge and it’s proof positive how unfunny this movie is when she can’t make me laugh. Hell, she even made me laugh on JOEY. But even someone with her prodigious comedic gifts can’t pull herself out of the muck and mire of this script.

As for Hugh Grant, the nominal star of this mess, his usual charm deserts him this time out. He aims to come off as unlikable as IDOL’s Simon Cowell and, in that regard, he succeeds.

Usually, with something this lame, I would suggest waiting for the DVD or even better, one of its innumerable runs on cable, where it can be viewed at no cost whatsoever. But this time out, I will simply issue a warning...stay away. Do not be tempted to watch this movie, ever. It’s one hour and forty-seven minutes of your life that you’ll never get back.

AMERICAN DREAMZ is a nightmare.

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April 24, 2006