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Movies / On DVD / American Dreamz
American Dreamz

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American Dreamz (2006)

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Reviews Counted:152

Fresh:61

Rotten:91

Average Rating:5.2/10

Consensus: This overly silly satire aims at too many targets with arrows too dull to make relevant social commentary.

Rated: 12A [See Full Rating] for brief strong language and some sexual references

Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:21-04-2006

Synopsis: Filmmaker Paul Weitz -- whose comic explorations have ventured into the synergistic halls of corporate culture (In Good Company), the perils of psychological isolationism (About a Boy) and the... Filmmaker Paul Weitz -- whose comic explorations have ventured into the synergistic halls of corporate culture (In Good Company), the perils of psychological isolationism (About a Boy) and the vicissitudes of losing one's virginity (American Pie)-- now delivers a comedy yanked from right-now popular culture...where the nation's shrinking attention span is more focused on "what's hot" than on hot-button headlines: American Dreamz. On the morning of his re-election, the President (Quaid) decides to read the newspaper for the first time in four years. This starts him down a slippery slope. He begins reading obsessively, reexamining his black and white view of the world, holing up in his bedroom in his pajamas. Frightened by the President's apparent nervous breakdown, his Chief of Staff (Dafoe) pushes him back into the spotlight, booking him as a guest judge on the television ratings juggernaut (and the President's personal fave), the weekly talent show American Dreamz. America can't seem to get enough of American Dreamz, hosted by self-aggrandizing, self-loathing Martin Tweed (Grant), ever on the lookout for the next insta-celebrity. His latest crop of hopefuls includes Sally (Moore), a conniving steel magnolia with a devoted, dopey veteran boyfriend (Klein), and Omer, a recent Southern Californian immigrant (who just happens to be a bumbling, show tune singing, would-be terrorist awaiting activation). When both Sally and Omer make it to the final round of Dreamz--where the President will be judging along with Tweed--the stage is set for a show the nation will never forget. American Dreamz is written, produced and directed by Paul Weitz (writer/director of In Good Company, co-director/Academy Award®-nominated co-screenwriter of About A Boy and co-director of American Pie). Rodney Liber and Andrew Miano also produce; Chris Weitz and Kerry Kohansky serve as executive producers. --© Universal Pictures [More]

Starring: Mandy Moore, Hugh Grant, Willem Dafoe, Dennis Quaid

Starring: Mandy Moore, Hugh Grant, Willem Dafoe, Dennis Quaid, Chris Klein, Marcia Gay Harden, Jennifer Coolidge, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Judy Greer, John Cho, Bernard White, Sam Golzari, Tony Yalda, Noureen DeWulf

Director: Paul Weitz

Director: Paul Weitz
Screenwriter: Paul Weitz
Producer: Rodney Liber, Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz
Composer: Stephen Trask
Studio: Universal Pictures

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Reviews for American Dreamz

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141 - 158 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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So do you think the war on terror is one big joke? ... Even if you do, this is comedy that, for all its heavy-handed political satire, just isn't funny.

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment Comment
04/19/06
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

Weitz has a clear-eyed vision of the zeitgeist and tosses it up on the screen with a deadpan veracity that is as unflinching as it is hilarious

Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
04/19/06
Andrea Chase
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews

Comes across like a bad 'Saturday Night Live' political sketch, dragged on for way too long ... a lot of great talent wasted.

Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | comment Comment
04/19/06
Edward Douglas
Edward Douglas
ComingSoon.net

One wonders whether American Dreamz is attempting to satirize pop culture or merely recreating it.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
04/19/06
Jeremiah Kipp
Jeremiah Kipp
Slant Magazine

[Paul Weitz] has made the shrewd move of staging the film on a human scale, in the homespun wackadoo spirit of a '40s screwball comedy.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
04/19/06
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly

With such acting talent and some of the creators of much better films, you may be expecting more than a good farce. However, the farce is pretty much what you're getting here.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Report Card | comment Comment
04/19/06
Ross Anthony
Ross Anthony
Hollywood Report Card

A broad-based lampoon that envelops too much material and tries far too hard to please.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
04/19/06
Jeanne Aufmuth
Jeanne Aufmuth
Palo Alto Weekly

Satire attracts a tough crowd and is always a challenge to pull off. This one duz, and makes the complexity look easy.

Full Review Source: Cinema Signals | comment Comment
04/18/06
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals

Is it possible to satirize something that, in and of itself, often crosses the line into self-parody?

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
04/18/06
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

Its shallow cynicism combined with its faith that everything will turn out okay can even be said to breed complacency -- the opposite of what satire needs to do in these increasingly dark days.

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
04/18/06
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
New York Magazine

There's some color and variety here but not much by way of teeth and bite, and it quickly becomes clear that the movie's social targets (a shopping list of political and cultural ills) are going to be broad and easy ones.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
04/18/06
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

American Dreamz should really have been funnier. But it's not boring.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
04/18/06
J. Hoberman
J. Hoberman
Village Voice

Any attempt to defend American Dreamz for its political venom, or for the surfeit of its surreal conceits, is doomed to founder on a single, obstructive fact: this picture ain’t funny.

Full Review Source: New Yorker | comment Comment
04/17/06
Anthony Lane
Anthony Lane
New Yorker

American Dreamz suffers from an overabundance of subplots and characters.

Full Review Source: About.com | comment Comment
04/17/06
Rebecca Murray
Rebecca Murray
About.com

This comedy by the director of American Pie prefers farce to political satire and broad comedy to incisive social commentary. . .

Full Review Source: SA Movie & DVD Magazine | comment Comment
04/17/06
James O'Ehley
James O'Ehley
SA Movie & DVD Magazine

A film with none of the heart that has characterized Weitz's best work and none of the freshness of his most successful.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
03/23/06
John DeFore
John DeFore
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Pic and its ambitions are undermined by insistent cartoonishness and comic ineptitude.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/22/06
Robert Koehler
Robert Koehler
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Instead of making dreamz come true, it will only give you nightmarez.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
03/20/06
Michael Ferraro
Michael Ferraro
Film Threat
 
 
141 - 158 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
all

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