American Dreamz (Wicked Little Critta)

Initial Reaction: “Ok…”

The American Dream. As I sit here eating my Wendy’s grilled chicken sandwich, I reflect on what the American Dream was, and what it has become. And, after seeing it about two weeks ago, I think that I finally understand what the movie American Dreamz was trying to say.

We all know that it was meant to poke fun at our country. If any of you have seen or even heard of the American Pie movies, also directed by Paul Weitz, you’ll be able to figure out that much. American Dreamz does make fun of America, and it’s funny—because we Americans know what it’s talking about. Inside jokes are always funnier from the inside, and as an insider, I thought the humor was great. I’m sorry, as disrespectful as it may be, I’ll be honest with you: I loved Dennis Quaid as President Staton. He portrays our president a southern, fairly conservative, Christian man whose facial expression most often conveys a sense of “I can’t help it…” or “Who, me?” in dealing with publicity and public issues. I think my favorite line of his was when he earnestly says to his advisor: “Did you know that there are three types of Iraqistanis?”

The film focused on three themes: politicians, the American entertainment industry, and terrorism. A fantastically creative mix, in my opinion. The politicians are either clueless or crooked, the entertainment industry demonstrates an attitude of “do anything and hurt anyone to achieve fame,” and the terrorists? Let’s just say that Omer, a terrorist on a “mission” in America to take out the president, ends up being the most likeable and unscathed character in the entire movie. Why? Maybe American Dreamz is pointing out the backwardness of our American Dreams.

So, what do we take away from this? At first I wasn’t sure. It’s point (assuming I’m on the right track here) was a bit nebulous at times, trading in clarity for more laughs, as Dr. Worm and Stormy Pinkness both talk about in their reviews. But the more I think back on various scenes and quotes, the more I see it: We’re ridiculous. I even felt ridiculous after I saw the movie, and I wasn’t entirely sure why. The characters are caricatures, but they were done fairly well. Each character shows this in a different way, and all of these ways are prominent in our American culture. Mandy Moore plays diva Sally Kendoo who is almost impossible to like. Since I’ve seen Moore in other roles that are essentially the same, I’m beginning to wonder if this is her true personality, or the only role she can play. Hugh Grant plays Martin Tweed, a selfish TV show host who also only wants success for himself at the expense of others. I really don’t know what to say about Grant playing this role, except that his character was convincing. Chris Klein plays Sally’s fiancé who, no matter how evil Sally is, only wants to be with her because they’re “in love.” Klein pushed this character, named William Williams, to the edge. He seemed so crazily lovestruck throughout the film that I feel like if I asked him how many fingers I was holding up, he’d have no idea what I was talking about.

President Staton is oblivious to pretty much everything, and whines that—even though he’s the president—things just don’t go his way. Complementing this character, Willem Dafoe plays the president’s Chief of Staff, who clearly has a hidden agenda and jerks President Staton around like a marionette.

Its faults lie in many areas. For one, there are too many stories to follow to actually understand its point. Maybe if the movie were adjusted so that there were two main characters, it would have been stronger. But this movie seemed too wrapped up in the “do stupid stuff to make people laugh” approach. This style is very distracting when you’re trying to make a point. *SPOILER* Also, there’s no redemption in the end, so you spend all that time watching terrible people do terrible things, and that’s pretty much all you get. The resolution, if you can call it that, is unexpected and a bit…unresolved. Sometimes this works really well, but I didn’t like that style matched up with this movie. *END SPOILER*

Almost the entire cast demonstrates an aspect of the ridiculousness of our culture, and it makes us love the character who represents the most anti-American force we can currently imagine. The movie develops a distaste in its audience for 80% of its main characters, which can tend to rub audience members the wrong way, so I’m not too surprised that this movie wasn’t as huge as it could’ve been. It’s also very likely that strong Bush supporters (you’re out there, right?) will not be going out to buy this movie on DVD.

But should we all smash our TVs with hammers, defenestrate our politicians, and make friends with terrorists? I doubt it. But let’s not take ourselves too seriously. I mean, c’mon, look at us.

Rating: 8

American Dreamz was funny, interesting, and just the slightest bit eye-opening. I give it an 8 on the -22 to 22 scale. Quite entertaining and creative, but lacking some direction and clarity. Not bad.