If his latest film is to do brisk box office business, writer-director Paul Weitz (“In Good Company,” “About a Boy”) had best be right about its central conceit: In “American Dreamz” Weitz posits that a great many Americans are starstruck dolts who celebrate the banal at the expense of the truly consequential. Well, given that Weitz’ movie is a poorly executed satire littered with mean-spirited jokes and offensive stereotypes, he must be banking on the Great Unwashed turning out just to see movie stars such as Hugh Grant and Mandy Moore. And they boink, too.
Grant plays the caustic Brit host of America’s most beloved television program, a ratings phenomenon that pits ordinary people against one another vying to become the next great singing sensation. Sound familiar? Grant’s Martin Tweed is a self-loathing egoist who you might say has lost his religion … that is, if you could possibly imagine him having one in the first place. His hatred for the show that has made him a household name is matched only by his contempt for the idolatrous householders. But when the latest search for hopefuls turns up conniving Ohio songbird Sally Kendoo (Moore), Martin — or “Tweedy,” as he likes to be called — finds renewed vigor in a kindred spirit. Meanwhile, Dennis Quaid and Willem Dafoe pillory the current administration with all the subtlety of a punch in the nose (all gags directed squarely ON the nose) playing, respectively, a half-witted President and his Karl Rove-ian Chief of Staff. Chris Klein remains a model of consistency with yet another utterly convincing turn as an insensate yet lovable lunkhead.
In fairness, the cast does a pretty good job, particularly newcomer Sam Golzari as a reluctant would-be Middle Eastern terrorist with a passion for showtunes. Too bad Weitz puts Golzari in the unenviable position of trying to mine humor in an area most Americans prefer not be tread. It’s one of many missteps that haunt this filmmaker’s “Dreamz.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 21, 2006. Read the original PDF.