American Dreamz: Movie & DVD Review (2006)

(Originally published 2006)

Paul Weitz's "American Dreamz" assembles a sumptuous buffet for the viewer, but since Weitz isn’t hungry, he just stares at the spread, dumbly refusing to eat when really he should gorge.

The film attempts to send up "American Idol," George W. Bush, pop culture and our fascination with fame, and yet somehow--incredibly--it misses on every conceivable level to get the job done.

How do you screw up an opportunity such as this? Even if you love "American Idol," love Bush, love where the culture is going, adore fame, you would think there is no way you could miss taking them all on, even if you felt you had to play it safe by doing it with affection. Certainly even then a measure of good-natured hair-pulling wouldn’t be out of line. Perhaps it might even be fun.

"American Dreamz" isn’t even a little fun. It's dull and generic, with the ongoing sense that it was conceived by some dim-witted enfant banal handed a Handicam and sent wandering into the back lot, where it encountered a sideshow it couldn’t understand.

In its most streamlined form, the film is about an attempt by our down-in-the-dumps President (Dennis Quaid) to lift his disappointing poll numbers by appearing on the nation's most-watched television talent show, "American Dreamz." The idea is that by being on a hip show, the hipness will wear off. It doesn't, though the President's chief of staff (Willem Dafoe, lamely channeling Cheney) and bland wife (Marcia Gay Harden, lamely channeling Laura) believe it might.

Hugh Grant is Martin Tweed, the show's critic who is meant to be a riff on Simon Cowell, but forget it--it's a bad imitation, with Grant mining none of Cowell’s caustic directness or his sly sense of humor.

Mandy Moore is Sally Kendoo, a Midwestern climber who considers ditching her boyfriend, William Williams (Chris Klein), when she's chosen to appear on "American Dreamz," but who has second thoughts when Tweed suggests that William's war injury might help her chances of winning. Add to this the inclusion of a terrorist Arab bomber named Omer (Sam Golzari), who has a thing for show tunes and a flamboyantly gay cousin (Tony Yalda) at the ready, and what you have is a melting pot of stereotypes moving toward an explosive ending. Omer, you see, plans to blow up the President onstage.

The 25th anniversary of “Cats" sounds more entertaining than this drivel, which does come as a surprise. Weitz is a fine director. His "In Good Company" was one of the better independent films of 2004. His "About a Boy," co-written and directed with his brother, Chris, was smarter than it had any right to be, particularly since one false move with that film could have tipped it into pandering.

So, what happened here? The problem with "American Dreamz" is that it has no bite. The jokes are lazy and fall flat. There is no rhythm to the show, no sense that anyone here is having a good time. Malaise is an undercurrent that robs the movie of energy. The performances range from the boring to the Ambien-induced, with the movie offering nothing memorable along the way.

In the end, to quote Cowell, it’s hideous.

Grade: D-