American Dreamz (2006)

Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This satire on fame, politics and the Middle East might had been an brave undertaking back in 2006 but falls woefully short of its targets.Hugh Grant plays a creator, host and producer of an American Idol type show but he is capable of being more cynical, bitter, twisted than the Simon Cowell lite version we have here, it was a waste of Grant's talents that such an opportunity for him to shine was wasted.Dennis Quaid plays the spaced out President of the USA who becomes a guest judge for the final, but Quaid's President is just a barely sketched out role and rather dull and boring part of the film. Only Willem Dafoe in heavy make up shines as a Dick Cheney type manipulator. Once again Dafoe shows that whilst heavily disguised he can play fast and loose than the more uptight portrayals when he is without it.The rest of the film concerns a would be Middle East terrorist who loves show tunes and ends up visiting wealthy relatives in the USA, a rapping Jewish Rabbi and a trailer trash go getter who will stop at nothing to get to the top and her dim boyfriend who joins the armed forces.Together they somehow end up in the Pop Idol type show, but the satire on talent shows, the manipulation of the media, politics and people could be had been more sharper and cynical, some of it works but its too hit and miss and could had gone deeper under the skin but I guess the film-makers lost their edge when it came to the final cut.

Originally published on Aril 18, 2006.The stunningly successful TV show, "American Idol," is ripe for parody and, finally, Hollywood has come around and satirized it (although) whether it's really funny is up to you the viewer. I thought it had its moments, but overall fell a bit short.Martin Tweed (Hugh Grant) is the upper class, acerbic twit host of the nation's most popular show, "American Dreamz" (with a "Z"), which clobbers the competition and weekly draws more voters than presidential elections.Everyone seems to watch the program, even those residing in a small terrorist camp on the Afghanistan-Iraq border.Seeing this worldwide opportunity, a Dick Cheney-like vice-president, Sutter (Willem DeFoe), convinces the dimwitted Chief Executive, Pres. Joe Staton (a totally transparent G.W. Bush clone, played by a spaced-out Dennis Quaid), to appear as a guest judge on the season finale of the show to boost his sagging poll numbers (despite the fact he was recently re-elected).The Prez is so stupid, he doesn't know what a newspaper is, and needs cartoons as visual aids in his daily briefings. He also has to have DeFoe speak for him through a hearing aid/microphone contraption.Yeah, thanks Hollywood. We get that Quaid is supposed to represent a Bush-like figure and that Bush is supposed to be stupid in the minds of many celebrity liberals. Thanks for the subtlety.Meanwhile, blonde sweetheart, Sally Kandoo (Mandy Moore), from Ohio, dreams of winning the contest, no matter who gets hurt; as does rich, gay Iraqi-American, Iqubal (Tony Yalda), but his terrorist cousin, Omer (Sam Golzari), is somehow chosen instead.The show sequences feature the typical Idol contestant: a gay Clay Aiken character, a bald white dude, a black woman with a big voice and a bad hairdo, a long-haired rocker, and an Orthodox Jew. Okay, the last one isn't exactly typical, but played by Adam Busch (TV series "House"), he's hilarious.Grant gets to play the Simon Cowell character and insult most of these singers (although we don't really get to see enough of that). Most of the plot revolves around Sally, her pushy stage mother, Martha (Jennifer Collige, "Waiting For Gufman," "Best Of Show," "Date Movie"), puppy dog boyfriend, William Williams (Chris Klein, "American Pie," "We Were Soldiers"), and sleazy agent (Seth Meyers, a cast member of "Saturday Night Live").Subplot has goofy terrorist cell member Omer winning week after week with his bad singing and over-the-top dancing (taught to him by Iqubal), until he reaches the finals. He's then recruited to blow up himself and the President on live television.Conclusion has everything going array, but the show getting even higher ratings because of the total breakdown. It's a decent parody of the genre, which has become even more popular in real life. Stupid film has enough laughs (mostly through pokes at "Idol," the War on Terror, George W. Bush and other current pop culture icons) to keep some viewers lightly entertained throughout much of its one hour, 45 minute running time.Especially funny are the scenes where the lisping, prancing Iqubal turns his cousin into an American celebrity, who "Omerizes" the nation.

i'm sure this is a bit of a politically dubious film, especially where iraq is concerned, and it isn't the sort of film that stays with you after it is over, but it did have many moments that made me laugh out loud - sheer wonderful surprise. the acting on the whole is nicely understated and dennis quaid stops short of making his president completely mockable, doesn't take the easy route. tony yalda is wonderful as iqbal but hugh grant lacks both the charisma and the comic timing for his role and his voice keeps changing throughout - but he wasn't complete rubbish, and yes, well, he's still rather sexy. but still, ultimately rather a slight film.

Imagine a terrorist getting to the final round of an American Idol-type show so that he can bump off one of the judges - the President of the United States. Paul Weitz has a great and creative imagination to think up the plot of "American Dreamz," a 2006 comedy that he wrote and directed.The premise is that the President of the U.S. (Dennis Quaid) is the puppet of his chief adviser (Willem Dafoe) and has to have an earpiece so he knows what to say. At the beginning of the film, he's reading newspapers and discovering that things in the world aren't quite as they've been described to him. So absorbed is he in this new knowledge, that he won't leave the residence, and rumors surface that he's had a nervous breakdown or is ill. So his Chief of Staff mounts a massive publicity campaign, and one of the things he does is arrange for the President to judge the "American Dreamz" talent contest. Hugh Grant is the Simon Cowell character who also hosts the show. He wants a Jew and an Arab to compete, plus someone really yummy (Mandy Moore).An idiot terrorist, Iqbal Riza (Tony Yalda) is sent to the U.S. to get him out of the way, and he lives with his cousins. His goal in life is to be on American Dreamz. However, the day the Dreamz committee arrives in response to his tape, his terrorist cousin Omer (Sam Golzali) is in his stage/basement setup doing a song from Guys and Dolls. He's scooped up for American Dreamz, which makes Iqbal a) furious and b) his choreographer. The terrorist bosses devise a bomb that Omer will retrieve in the mens room to kill himself and the President - but he has to get to the final round.This comedy is truly outrageous. I just wish we could have seen a few more numbers from Omer and his cousin - for me, the competition just made the movie. In my opinion also, it would have been funnier if the Mandy Moore character of Sally Kendoo had been below par - she actually was pretty good. When Omer went into "The Impossible Dream" and one of the terrorists criticizes the choice of song to his fellow cell members, it was hilarious.It is incredibly nervy to show terrorists assembling pieces of a bomb for Omer to put together and juxtapose it with a mindless competition - nervy because it's the old Hitchcock terror in normal places idea that is scary indeed.After all Omer has been told about the evils in America, it must seem like a pretty silly place to him - but tempting - and he goes after the American Dream on American Dreamz. Sally Kendoo, looking for all the world like an innocent hometown girl, is anything but, as ruthless as they come, even taking advantage of an Iraqui vet she doesn't love to pull in audience votes. Grant is appropriately sleazy as Martin Tweed, Quaid good as an out of it President just finding his own voice, and Marcia Gay Harden has a small but colorful role as the First Lady.Most of the characters are sketchy and not likable - except for Omer and his cousin, who are a riot. If only real young terrorists were the way these two are depicted.