A controversial movie that has come straight out of left field this spring is “American Dreamz.” A complete satire centered on America’s dimwitted presidency and its infatuation with cheesy reality television, “American Dreamz” plays like a one-hundred-minute Saturday Night Live sketch. After seeing the movie myself, I’m not so sure why this film is getting the attention that it does for being controversial. The President in “Dreamz,” played by Dennis Quaid, is portrayed as the biggest imbecile in American history. After his re-election, President Staton (Quaid) discovers newspapers and becomes obsessed with American culture, the same culture he has been leading the past four years.
Staton’s puppet-like stupidity is further punched home by the Chief of Staff character, played by Willem Defoe (no doubt doing a John Cheney parody). The Chief of Staff controls what the President says through an earpiece and generally has to do all the of the President’s tasks for him.
The President’s new found love for American pop culture brings him to a show called “American Dreamz,” which is obviously a take-off on “American Idol.” Hugh Grant heads up the national karaoke contest, portraying a Simon Cowel like character in Martin Tweed. Tweed’s only love is for the ratings of his number one show to stay that way.
That leads everyone to an Ohio karaoke queen played by Mandy Moore. After she is selected for the show, Moore dumps her boyfriend, who then joins the army, goes through bootcamp in a week, gets shot, and returns home in time to help bolster Moore’s character’s image.
There are enough jabs in this story line for Michael Moore to be satisfied but wait–there is more.
An Iraqi terrorist named Omar (Sam Golzari) comes to America to avenge his mother’s death in a bombing raid, only to be selected to compete on “American Dreamz.” He takes the gig when he finds out that President Staton will be attending the show’s finale.
The Director, Paul Weitz, gives no quarter or refuge to anyone in public light in his film. He comically scorns the presidency and the public love of all things “reality,” no matter how staged they are.
Some people might be offended by the humor in this movie, especially if you are a hard line Bush supporter or a lover of “American Idle,” I mean “Idol.” Almost all of the jokes are done in good taste.
This movie may push satire right to the edge of what is appropriate, but it never goes over that to a place of spiteful humor. The movie falls short in places, and some of the jokes are pretty tired. Quaid’s presidential performance gets a bit tired after a while as well. All in all the movie is a fun time at the theatre and should be viewed as one big long-running SNL skit.