American Dreamz

must watch

I was able to catch a sneak preview of this movie in Jacksonville. I went to see this because its a sneak preview, and who doesn't love being one of the first people to see a movie no matter what its about. After reading up on American Dreamz (...with a z) a little bit, I was thinking that it was going to be pathetic, teenage humor not far from American Pie. I'm still not sure if I was wrong on that notion. I left the theatre unsure if I liked the movie or not, but I could say that I enjoyed it nonetheless. I found the relationship between Grant and Moore's characters so shallow that it was gratifying and Quiad's obvious interpretation of the President kind of humorous. But what I came away from this movie thinking is there are few things in this world more awkwardly original than a show tune singing terrorist.

The makers of American Dreamz obviously think very little of the people they think will view their film. It took a concept of monumental potential (the satire of the cultural stains that are the Bush Administration and American Idol)yet failed to develop anything of substance. This "satire" was dumbed down so much that no matter who watches this film, it will be understood. However, this also severely lowered the quality of the movie. I do admit there were moments I now regret because I couldn't stop myself from chuckling at a few spots. On the plus side, I thought Mandy Moore was pretty good at being the Britney Spears want-a-be. Dennis Quaid rakes in another performance equal to that of Day After Tomorrow, which isn't a good thing. And William Dafoe, WHY?! He is such an accomplished actor and yet there was nothing. No character is ever truly developed in a way that leads to any kind of attachment. Over all is was a poor effort and I am eternally grateful that I watched this during a free advanced screening at my university. PLEASE DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS FILM. But, if you have some time to kill and it is free, turn off your brain and enjoy.

Oh my gosh.. I think the worst movie i've ever seen.. i was laughing not because it was smart.. witty or artfully done.. but because i'm thinking "i can't BELIEVE i just paid $9.50 to watch this... I do not recommend it in the theaters.. MAYBE.. if you have run out of your queues of movies to watch.. MAYBE rent it.. but otherwise.. just say no. My friends and i wanted to leave a few times... but we were just mesmerized.. thinking it was going to get better. nope.. didn't happen.. yea.. the plot of a parody off of American Idol is a good idea.. but the acting was sub-par..HIGHLY over dramatized.. yea.. i know.. a comedy.. but come on.. i think I would've rather go see Scary Movie 4.. some scenes that were SOOOO SLOW... oh my gosh.. do not spend money to see this movie.

You probably know whats its about so lets not waste time going over it. Suffice to say that it doesn't work. This is ludicrously simplistic stuff. Every joke could have been dreamt up by your teenage kids and if we're talking about having a dig on the War on Terror (Remember that?) then were I an Al-Queda operative watching jihad-ism lampooned with a blunt knife, the low points being camp suicide bombers watching the titular show on TIVO (We're all decadent consumers at heart you see) and other nonsense like Omar, the reluctant bomber, turned on to America by his success as karaoke singer, I'd step up my plans for attack and target these filmmaker s first. All of this could be forgiven if any of the gags were funny or if just one of the laden setups paid off but they aren't and they don't. Forget all this crap about an inappropriate subject matter or sensitive timing, the issue here is that a land plush with satirical possibilities has been cluster bombed rather than cultivated. Terrorism is ridiculous, the so-called War even more so. Bush is ten movies on his own. Great targets, lots to say (though not by me of course) but if this is the sharpest comment mainstream Hollywood can offer than perhaps they should stick to the likes of Scary Movie 5. Someone collect the prints and fly a plane into them please.

I didn't see any trailers of this. I saw it at the DVD store, had a free coupon, figured it would be fun to watch Hugh Grant do a Simon Cowell impression, so I rented it. Lame, lame, lame. I'm embarrassed that I even watched it now. Of course, a white Pakistani from the "Middle East" on a mission to suicide bomb American Idol. Er, "Dreamz". So much potential wasted with the scenes with the president and Cheney, so much potential to make more fun of the judges and participants of American Idol, so much potential to jack up and darken the terrorist aspect. However, all sanitized, dumbed down, politically corrected, and predictable, the only part moderately entertaining was Omar spending nights in the terrorist camp. The The rest, of the time, the attempted jokes fell flat, you couldn't laugh at this thing on Nitrous Oxide. Unfunny, and a complete utter waste of time.

I couldn't fully comprehend when I came out of the cinema just how bad this movie was. Now, sure, I'm British, but we have Pop Idol too. The idea of spoofing it seemed funny. But this was *anything* but funny. Hugh Grant must have been laughing all the way to the bank, but the rest of the cast didn't seem aware just what they'd got themselves into. And using terrorists? The producers weren't sure whether they were spoofing terrorists, or trying to make a point. They failed on both counts. I guess Dennis Quaid was quite good as the President, but I lost count of the numbers of times the movie tried to bash it into my skull that this was supposed to be George Bush. Enough already, I get it! Luckily I've seen Date Movie, so this wasn't quite the worst movie I've seen this year. Just very nearly.

This was one of those rare movies where everyone in the theater was cheering, laughing so hard, and clapping!! I loved how satirical it was and how up-to-date it was. All the characters were well developed and the plot flowed so well and nothing seemed too forced. It was so funny that I can't quite pin point a few things that were funny. Perhaps there were times when the movie over did the whole satire thing but it was honestly such a great fantastic laugh that you won't quite mind. I highly recommend it to everyone or rather everyone who think that they can stand how not politically correct it is.

I had the chance to see this movie at a Sneak Preview showing, and initially I was excited since I had seen plenty of commercials that made the movie look funny and enjoyable. However, within the first ten minutes of the movie, I was disappointed. It was the most unintelligent satire I've ever seen. The acting was simply pathetic, and the only character that was slightly entertaining to watch was Omer. An unbearable amount of time was spent on "setting up" the story, and when the end actually came, I was left wondering what I had spent my time watching. What could have been an extremely hysterical movie was a waste of time, and will be a waste of money for future movie-goers. They did a great job advertising this film as something that would be enjoyable, but in the end the only thing I enjoyed was the popcorn and previews.

Based on the trailers, we didn't have very high expectations for this movie, but went to see it on a whim, since we enjoy American Idol. There was not much audience reaction, other than 5 or 6 slight chuckles. Overall,we found this film mildly amusing, but not very good. The humor was not very clever. It seemed thrown together with not much attention to creating a good script. American Idol is a too obvious target, and Bush/Cheney jokes are lame and tired by now. Perhaps three or four years ago the topical jokes might have seemed funnier. It will be a surprise to us if American Dreamz runs more than a couple of weeks in theaters.