Amy Richards
Good Points on American Dreamz 1) Great cast ( Hugh Grant plays a superb character as martin tweed he is one of my favourite actors and always seems like a good person to get along with. ( Mandy Moore - I was blown away from her singing she performed in this film.) 2) Not boring - I found this film not boring at all it had an upbeat to it to finding talent in America and what it took to get onto the show American dreamz.) I would totally recommend this film to anyone its fun, can be romantic at times but also ends with a twist. To be honest the ending was very unexpected i was waiting for a happy ending but it sure too a twist. This is my favourite film
studioAT
Hugh Grant plays a version of Simon Cowell on a reality TV show. Yes, that is the main joke behind this poor film, that oddly some people claim is Grant's best work.It's really not. Much like the Robin Williams film 'Man of the year' this is an attempt at satire that is also trying to be popular. It fails again badly here.It feels like a cheaply made sitcom, only with a big name cast, who gamely try to wring as much humour out of a poor script as they possible can.Grant plays bumbling well, he plays the fool well, but playing a jerk is a little beyond him. And this film sums that up. For a man who claims he picks his roles carefully it is baffling that he signed up to this film. Maybe out of loyalty as the director also did 'About A Boy'. Who knows.It's a comedy the DVD box proudly tells me. Well, if it is then that might be the best joke.
rooprect
I wavered for a long time trying to decide if I liked this movie or not. It's like a bad car wreck... no, worse... It's like when you find an eyeball in the toilet. It's absolutely nauseating, but at the same time you feel a morbid, scientific desire to poke at it."American Dreamz" is possibly the thickest satire I've seen since Catch-22, but with a heavy dose of "Kentucky Fried Movie" thrown in for silliness. However, this film suffers from one major problem. There is an unwritten rule in satire that you have to inject 1 normal character into the mix so that the audience can have some perspective and relief from the sarcasm. Ideally it's the protagonist to whom we relate (like level-headed Jerry Seinfeld in "Seinfeld" set against Kramer, George, Neuman and other neurotic oddballs, or like Brian in "The Life of Brian" or like Gene Wilder in "Blazing Saddles"). We didn't get that here. Each & every character is so thoroughly over-the-top irritating that you find yourself hoping they all get skinned alive and dumped in a lemon pepper marinade.Believe it or not, the most sympathetic character would be that of the President (Bush), whom this film skewers most brutally. In this film he is portrayed as a clueless bumpkin but with a human side. All the other characters in the movie are either 1st class douchebags or simpering sacks of goo. The satire itself is laid on so heavily and without respite that you find yourself slowly losing your attention span, if not your mind.There is a payoff, though. Be sure to stick around for the last 5 minutes, because that's where I believe this film really delivers. I laughed out loud, and at the same time I realized what a perfect ending it was. The whole film is like an infuriating, painful sneeze that builds up for 90 minutes and finally, whooooosh, it's out.Come to think of it, I'll probably be watching it again. I guess I'm a bit of a masochist at heart. There's no telling how you might react, but at least I hope I've given you an idea of what to expect.
CitizenCaine
At the time this movie was made, American Idol voters already rivaled political election voters. Director Paul Weitz, who gave us American Pie, throws everything in including the kitchen sink in this movie: an inept president facing a crisis of confidence (who mirrors one George W. Bush intentionally or not), a Broadway music-loving terrorist trainee, and intellectually vapid young Americans doing what they do best: kissing themselves in front of mirrors, running to the mall, and self-indulging. There are some bright moments to be sure in this satire vs. farce, but several scenes are often uncomfortably close to reality, as in the self-absorbed bratty Mandy Moore character who resembled some of the female students I taught over the years. Hugh Grant is much better than usual as a Simon Cowell type host of an American Idol type show, revealing just how laughably phony that type of show really is. Willem Dafoe is funny as a Dick Cheney look-a-like, but Dennis Quaid is wasted as the befuddled president. The terrorist sub-plot doesn't really work that well either, but Chris Klein is funny as an idiot boyfriend manipulated by Mandy Moore to further her "career". **1/2 of 4 stars.
AD
