IMDb user comments for
American Dreamz (2006) More at IMDbPro »

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 21:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Index

209 comments in total

---

94 out of 119 people found the following comment useful :-
a RARE satire because it breaks taboos about what we can satirize, 24 May 2006

Author: (cndiver@bluefrognet.net) from Rochester, N.Y. USA

Perhaps this film has gotten mixed reviews because it breaks an unwritten code about how far a movie can go in satirizing America's myths. When before have we seen the President of the United States on happy pills and robotic-ally pro- gram-med by his Rovelike handlers ? Who would suggest that an Al-Quaeda training camp could be funny and that someone in it has up scale all-American relatives in Orange County, California ? Could our love affair with American Idol be an escape from the collapsing American middle class way of life ?

This film IS often funny but it doesn't want that humor to stay in a feel good zone. It WANTS to make us uncomfortable and to face things that we don't want to look at too closely. The "sin" that this film has committed is that it wants us to grow up.

---

123 out of 182 people found the following comment useful :-
"American Dreamz" is a brave and hysterical satire that mocks everything and everyone., 8 April 2006

Author: MovieManMenzel from United States

"American Dreamz" is first and foremost a satire on pop culture America. This movie is based around the television series American Dreamz which is the highest grossing show not only in America but around the world as well. The show is hosted by Martin Tweed, (Hugh Grant) a heartless man who is just doing the show for his own selfish reasons. American Dreamz is about to start its new season and as they go through the casting process they pick a southern girl named Sally Kendoo (Mandy Moore), an Arab named Omer (Sam Golzari) and many others. But that's not all the movie focuses on, it also focuses on President Staton (Dennis Quaid) who has just gotten reelected but is finally beginning to wonder what's going on in this world he is supposedly running. As the president begins to question his role, Vice President Sutter (Willem Dafoe) signs President Staton up to appear on the season finale of American Dreamz so he can redeem his image to the American Public. Bold and funny moments ensue…

"American Dreamz" is a very ballsy and brave movie. At times it is so hard to realize you're watching a movie that was made by the big Hollywood studios because this film mocks everything about their culture and thinking. I think this film will be appreciated by very few because people will not be able to look at this film for what it is, a satire. The movie mocks so much about our current country from the television show American Idol to George Bush and Dick Cheney. I feel so few will be able to understand that this film isn't to be taken seriously, since it mocks issues that are happening in real life.

What I liked best about "American Dreamz" was that it mocked everything and everyone. From rich America to white trash America no one was safe. The movie mocks the United States as well as Iraq. It mocks fashion, music, television and so forth. It's a brave movie for being able to mock all these things because I can see so many people getting ticked off by the film.

But forget about everyone else for a moment, this review is based on my thoughts and I found the film to be incredible. It is one of the best movies I have seen so far this year. The film provides a lot of laughs and never drags on. The movie wants its audience to be able to laugh at themselves, something that Americans tend not to be able to do so well. It's a brave and comedic satire that pulls all the right punches and is based around a show that is truly something that everyone in the world is aware of.

Hugh Grant is terrific as Martin Tweed, the foul-mouthed, uncaring, fame seeker who doesn't care about anyone but himself. He pretty much mocks Simon Cowell from the show "American Idol" and I think he does this well. Mandy Moore is terrific as well and I think after a few more roles like this and "Saved!" she will start being recognized in Hollywood. Her character Sally Kendoo is pretty much a female version of Martin Tweed. She is uncaring, she wants fame, and she doesn't seem to care about anyone but herself. Not to mention she is a perfect mockery of such pop icons like Britney Spears and Carrie Underwood. Dennis Quaid does a great job impersonating President Bush and actually makes a more likable President in my opinion then the real George Bush. Also Willem Dafoe is the perfect mockery of Dick Cheney. I think his performance here is so dead on that he should receive some kind of nomination for his portrayal. But the real star of the movie is Omer played by Sam Golzari. He absolutely steals the movie from everyone else. He is the most likable and sweet character. At first you laugh at him but as the film goes on you begin to really love his character and feel for him.

Paul Weitz is the director, writer and producer of "American Dreamz." Weitz is one talented guy who takes so many actors and makes them into something great. "About a Boy," "In Good Company," and his short lived but brilliant television series "Cracking Up" all prove that he is a talented guy who can create original and clever work and "American Dreamz" is no different. But not only is he a great director but a great writer as well. His screenplay is great and mocks cultures with dead on examples, not to mention his non-typical Hollywood ending which I applaud him for leaving in. I read audience reactions from the test screenings about the ending were pretty negative but I am glad he kept it because I feel it's a great ending.

Bottom Line, "American Dreamz" is for audiences who can laugh at themselves and the culture they are apart of. This is a film that people will either love or hate and there will only be a few in between. It's not a movie for those who are easily offended or see the world as something that shouldn't be made fun of. It's a satire in its finest form. You have a terrific cast all of whom are solid at their roles, the script is brilliant and brave, and the directing is wonderful. This movie even makes you think when you laugh. You can't ask for a better comedy movie to come out of Hollywood, this is the finest satire to be released from a major studio in years. If you have a decent sense of humor and can laugh at yourself every once in a while, check out "American Dreamz" because it really is a dream with a Z.

MovieManMenzel's final rating for "American Dreamz" is a 9/10. It's the best satire to come out of Hollywood in years.

---

95 out of 149 people found the following comment useful :-
A hilarious, brave piece of film-making that exceeds all expectations, 2 April 2006

Author: bc5431 from United States

I just saw this at an advance screening and was astounded. Based on the previews, I had concerns like many of the people posting in the forum here: that it would be stupid, flat, bland "American sucks because..." formulaic drivel with a little bit of Arab stereotyping thrown in for good measure. I went into the film expecting to hate it. From the first line through, I was converted. The film offers a very interesting take on what the problems are in modern America, but it is not entirely negative: it also has a lot of good things to say about what makes America work. It creates a perfect blend of political satire, social commentary, and intelligent, dark humor. All of this, is, of course, peppered with the sparkling wit that we have come to expect from writer/director/producer Weitz, whose past credits range from the crass American Pie to About a Boy. There have been lots of people expressing fears over Arab stereotyping, and I would be lying if I said that terrorism doesn't play a large role, but I don't think I'm spoiling anything here (it was in the previews). The film looks at America as seen by a young Iraqi man, Omer (Sam Golzari, who does a brilliant job of showing his constant turmoil as he struggles to reconcile the America that he sees and that which he was taught about), who comes to the States after spending his life being indoctrinated by a terrorist organization. Through his eyes, we see all the good and all the bad that this country has to offer. As a result, every single person, with the exception of Omer, is a caricature. The Arab terrorists seem like stereotypes because individual characters have been reduced to the essentials that are necessary for the satire to work. The terrorists are made more terrorist-y to create the separation from reality that satire requires. By the same token, the heartless Hollywood producer, the white-trash family, the loyal boyfriend, the opulent L.A. family, the idiot president and manipulative chief of staff, etc. are all caricatures of the people who they are standing for. The film does not engage in Arab stereotyping because it is racist drivel, but engages in caricaturing Arab terrorists (without implying that all Arabs are terrorists) because the genre calls for it. I don't know what else I can say about this movie, except that it might not be for everyone. It is NOT your usual Hollywood fare, so do not go to it expecting a few laughs and two hours of diversion from your life. Rather, like the satires of Swift, it will make you question everything about how you view the world, and it will make you laugh so hard, you don't even know it is doing this, until you leave the theater and everything looks just a little bit different. This is one of the most intelligent, unique, daring, and insightful films to have come out of Hollywood in a long time. This is a film made for every single person who has asked why Hollywood keeps putting out stupid, uninteresting films that trade out heart and intelligence for breasts and explosions. At the same time, this is a sublimely funny film that would appeal to an extremely wide range of ages and backgrounds.

---

51 out of 64 people found the following comment useful :-
Better Than They Say, 26 April 2006

Author: Brent Trafton from Long Beach, CA

"American Dreamz" is not the funniest or cleverest film ever made, but it isn't as bad as a lot of the other reviewers are saying. To be sure, it will offend anyone who is a fan of American Idol, President Bush, or Al Qaeda.

The jokes are cute but will not leave you rolling in the aisles. There are really good performances throughout, especially by Willem Dafoe. who I had never really seen in a comedic performance.

This film could have been more mean spirited, but they actually went out of their way to make all the characters empathetic. My favorite part is when the terrorist are looking forward to eating grapefruit sorbet.

It's a shame this film was not more popular in the theaters, because it has a lot going for it despite it's faults. Hopefully it will be more popular on DVD.

---

63 out of 90 people found the following comment useful :-
Simon Cowell meets President Bush, 22 April 2006

Author: Joseph Riesenbeck (eazyguy62) from United States

In American Dreamz, writer and director Paul Weitz unabashedly skewers Bush, Cheney, politics, American Idol, and the public that watches American Idol all in the same breath. That's quite a bit of satire to cram into a one hour and forty-seven minute movie, but cram Weitz does and for the most part he succeeds quite well.

In the world of American Dreamz President Staton (Dennis Quaid) has just been re-elected in a hard fought campaign. Left to his own devices Staton is non functional. It is his Chief of Staff (Willem Dafoe) who controls his every movement right down to telling Staton what to say through a hidden receiver place in his ear canal. One morning President Staton decides to take it easy and do something he has never done before which is to read a newspaper. "We do have one of those around, don't we," he asks his assistance. "I'm sure we do, but if we don't we can get you one," the assistant replies.

After having read his first newspaper Staton becomes addicted and begins reading anything and everything as if he were a tweener discovering his first Harry Potter story.

Then there is Simon Cowell clone Martin Tweed (Hugh Grant) who produces, hosts, and judges contestants on his version of American Idol called American Dreamz. He's shallow, manipulative, and thinks way too highly of himself. All would be right with the world except that he finds having to do actually do the show somewhat of an annoying minor detail.

Each season becomes more of a challenge to find the right contestants to drive his ratings higher because being number one in all demographics just isn't enough for Tweed. To do this he has to choose the right contestants that Americans can identify with, and their singing prowess has little to do with whom he chooses.

There is Ohio karaoke queen, Sally Kendoo (Mandy Moore) whose one big dream is not only to appear on Tweed's show but to win. After finding out that she has been selected Sally dumps her boyfriend who joins the Army and is sent to Iraq two weeks after a two week cram course at basic training. Of course he promptly gets shot and returns home as a wounded vet just in time for Sally to reunite with him because it will make a better back story.

Then there's terrorist Omer Obeidi (Sam Golzari). His main thrill in life is listening to American show tunes on old records left to him by his mother who was killed by an American bomb. He promptly flops at terrorist training and is sent to the United States to live with relatives until he is needed. It is there that he is accidentally discovered performing a musical number and given the chance to appear on Dreamz.

When President Staton decides to appear at the finals of American Dreamz as a judge after being in hiding for several weeks, Omer is recruited to blow Staton and himself up with a bomb.

Grant is great as Tweed. In fact, one almost wishes he hosted the real show. His criticisms of the contestants are biting as he sits in judgment in a chair from the audience as if he is a god telling America who gets to enter the pearly gates and who gets a quick drop down the chute to hell. (Tweed: It's up to you America, only you have the awesome power to lift someone up into the heavens and create a new star.)

Grant plays Tweed as if he would be the kind of self-centered ego maniac you would hate living next to you, but in the confines of the TV screen he somehow manages to be admirable, pleasant, and charming. You can't help but like him.

Mandy Moore has played the bad girl before in a wonderful film called Saved! Sally's a bad girl here also but of a different type. She wants to win at all costs but is just as cold and passionless about it as Tweed about how that goal is achieved. In fact Tweed and Kendoo are mirror images of each other, and Moore does a good job here of reflecting Tweed's image so that we can readily see the similarities.

The real surprise here is Golzari as Omer the Terrorist who thinks he should be a terrorist to avenge his mother's death but knows he isn't quite cut out for the job. He just isn't ready to meet Allah especially when the guy that gives him the mission tells him he'll meet him in the afterlife also…..in a number of years that is.

Weitz leaves no stone unturned in his skewering of our infatuation with pop culture and celebrity icons, so much so that we will vote for the manufactured image of our president rather than be bothered with the annoying details of how he might actually run the country. In the wrong hands all of this could have been too heavy handed and dreary, but Weitz keeps things light enough so that we can laugh at ourselves while still giving us some things to think about.

There are a lot of laughs and memorable moments in American Dreamz and you'll be thoroughly entertained, as long as you have no problem laughing at not only the situation of the world around you but by laughing at yourself also.

There are those who will undoubtedly be offended, especially if they are still the adoring fans of certain shows and politicians in the real world and can differentiate the difference between reality and entertainment. I certainly can tell the difference and I had a heckuva good time. And when I have a good time I have no choice but to give American Dreamz my grade and I have decided that American Dreamz is a saucy little minx that deserves a B+.

---

27 out of 36 people found the following comment useful :-
A Very good satire, 30 November 2006

Author: Petrus Malherbe (ansiewaterval@telkomsa.net) from South Africa

When I was reading the other people's opinion's on American Dreamz, I wondered if they even realized it was a satire...? I surely hope that all who watched it even knows what a satire is: It is when you mock people and their doings/obsessions with the hope of improvement. In this movie, the director (Paul Weitz) mocks everything from America's obsession with TV-shows like Idols to George W. Bush and his delectable office. This is surely a movie you would want to watch a couple of times over - just to catch that dreary bit you most certainly missed the first time.

I would give this movie a well deserved 8 out of ten.

---

77 out of 142 people found the following comment useful :-
Yes, Yes, Yes!, 26 March 2006

Author: jbels from Chicago

This movie was soooo good and sooo funny, non-stop laughs and pitch perfect performances from everyone. Mandy Moore, Dennis Quaid, Willem Dafoe, Hugh Grant (he was like watching Simon Cowell up there). The whole film worked from start to finish and had some of the biggest laughs in years. The film is very much "of the moment" with its mirroring American Idol, the President, and terrorism, but it hits everything right on the head. Chris Klein, towards the end of the movie, has one of the funniest lines I have heard in decades. The movie also zooms by. I saw it at the festival in Cleveland, but if it was during regular release, I would have sat and watched it again. Great one!

---

33 out of 56 people found the following comment useful :-
Fortunately when the movie does remember to be funny, it's very, very funny., 21 April 2006

Author: EscObAR122 from USA

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

There's so much going on in "American Dreamz" that it's no wonder it sometimes forgets to be funny. You'd lose focus, too, if you had to execute parodies of reality TV, terrorism, the Bush administration, the war in Iraq, western consumerism, and "American Idol," all in one film. Fortunately, when the movie does remember to be funny, it's very, very funny.

Martin Tweed (Hugh Grant) is the host and sole judge on "American Dreamz," a hugely popular "Idol"-esque TV show about to begin a new season. But Tweed, bored, barbaric and British, wants to shake things up this year. He orders his staff to ensure that an Arab and a Jew are among the competitors, and when the president of the United States says he wants to appear as a guest judge for the finale, well, that should be good for a laugh, too.

The president is Joseph Staton (Dennis Quaid), a recently re-elected Bible-thumper who does whatever his chief of staff Sutter (Willem Dafoe, in a Cheney/Rove bald cap) tells him. But Staton, experiencing something of a mid-term mid-life crisis, has actually started reading the newspapers and thinking for himself. In fact, he's so ensconced in the world of current affairs and book-learning that he hasn't appeared in public in several weeks, leading to rumors he's had a nervous breakdown, and prompting Sutter's efforts to get him on "American Dreamz." Meanwhile, the early front-runner in this year's "Dreamz" is Sally Kendoo (Mandy Moore), a perky-as-punch Ohio blonde who can turn on the charm in public as easily as she can turn on the connivery in private. In that respect, she is the soulmate of Martin Tweed, and the two find kinship in their duplicitous black-heartedness. This distresses Sally's boyfriend William (Chris Klein), a semi-wounded Army volunteer whom she's dating solely because it looks good on TV to have a boyfriend who fought in Iraq.

But what about the Arab and Jew Martin requested? The Jew gets shortchanged (as do a lot of the film's story elements), but the Arab is front and center. He's Omer (Sam Golzari), a bumbling but sweet former terrorist-in-training who was exiled by his Iraqi handlers to live with his cousins in America. Omer was never cut out for terrorism anyway; he prefers singing and dancing. Nonetheless, when his handlers tell him to use his "Dreamz" appearance -- and the presence of the U.S. president as a guest judge -- to further the cause, he has no choice but to obey.

Yes, writer/director Paul Weitz has his hands full here, and "American Dreamz" isn't as accomplished or smooth as his "American Pie," "About a Boy" and "In Good Company." (It's better than his Chris Rock misfire "Down to Earth," though.) While it's never boring, some scenes do feel like they ought to be funnier, or at least end more succinctly.

It's also a shame to see so many great characters and subplots underused. Omer's Americanized Iraqi cousins, led by the great Shohreh Aghdashloo; John Cho and Judy Greer as Martin's assistants; "SNL's" Seth Meyers as Sally's snaky agent; Jennifer Coolidge as her opportunistic mother; Marcia Gay Harden as the First Lady -- any of these roles could have been enhanced. There's a line between memorable supporting characters who serve their purpose and then disappear, and great supporting characters who make us feel like their scenes were deleted. This film crosses that line.

But it's the most outrightly satirical thing Weitz has done, and he demonstrates a real knack for it. The scenes mocking "American Idol" are hilariously accurate, from the types of contestants (the black diva, the prettified white boy, the wannabe rocker), to the drippy songs they choose, to the audience's fanatic devotion.

Hugh Grant is never better than when he's onstage as Martin Tweed, a perfectly unctuous TV airhead. He's not as charming in the offstage scenes as we like our Hugh Grants to be, but what can you do? He's working with Mandy Moore, for crying out loud.

Which brings me to an important point. The film is being marketed to Mandy Moore's demographic, but that audience will not enjoy it. They won't appreciate the multi-layered satire at work. The preview audience I saw it with often didn't even realize the jokes WERE jokes, let alone how funny they were. Besides, Moore's character is a scheming vixen, not the sweetheart her fans are used to.

Curiously, the one truly sincere character in the whole thing is President Staton, played with fiendish glee by Dennis Quaid. Staton may be an uncharitable send-up of our real-life commander in chief, but at least he's honest. You see in his arc (he's the only character who has one) a hint of what has made Weitz's previous films so winning: that layer of heart underneath the comedy that drives the whole thing home.

Grade: B- 6/10

---

9 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
I want my two hours back, 26 December 2006

Author: nzhikozaemon from Tokyo, Japan

I didn't see any trailers of this. I saw it at the DVD store, had a free coupon, figured it would be fun to watch Hugh Grant do a Simon Cowell impression, so I rented it. Lame, lame, lame. I'm embarrassed that I even watched it now. Of course, a white Pakistani from the "Middle East" on a mission to suicide bomb American Idol. Er, "Dreamz". So much potential wasted with the scenes with the president and Cheney, so much potential to make more fun of the judges and participants of American Idol, so much potential to jack up and darken the terrorist aspect. However, all sanitized, dumbed down, politically corrected, and predictable, the only part moderately entertaining was Omar spending nights in the terrorist camp. The The rest, of the time, the attempted jokes fell flat, you couldn't laugh at this thing on Nitrous Oxide. Unfunny, and a complete utter waste of time.

---

3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Underrated Satire, 16 January 2008

Author: Aluísio Parondi (nem.freud.explica@gmail.com) from Winooski, Vermont, USA

This smart satire about current issues and trends (the Iraq war, reality shows and all that jazz) is one of those sleepers that become cult movies 10 or 20 years after its original release. With an inspired cast that includes Hugh Grant as a cynical, vain TV show host (what were you expectin'?), Dennis Quaid as a dumb president who admires Carmen Electra and needs his chief of staff to think for him all the time (any similarity to real characters is no coincidence), Marcia Gay Harden as the first lady, Willem Dafoe as the chief of staff, and Mandy Moore as a talentless bitch (not even Moore could ruin it - this is, alongside another underrated satire, "Saved!", one of her least crappy performances, perhaps because she's kind of playing herself), and some very quotable lines, the movie tastes like a fast-food Monty Python - witty in spite of all the nonsense. "American Dreamz" may not have a memorable character like, say, Sacha Baron Cohen's "Borat", but it's just as corrosive. Too bad it didn't get the attention it deserved when it came out. Do yourself a favor and go rent it. 7.5/10.

---

---

Page 1 of 21:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Add another comment

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Plot synopsis	Ratings
Newsgroup reviews	External reviews	Parents Guide
Official site	Plot keywords	Main details
Your user comments	Your vote history