Movie Review Black Los Angeles

BlackNLA Movie Reviews

*****THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*****

by Edwardo Jackson

BIASES: late 20s black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare

AMERICAN DREAMZ (PG-13)

MOVIE BIASES: Paul Weitz, Hugh Grant, Mandy Moore...pre-sold!

MAJOR PLAYERS: Hugh Grant (About a Boy), Mandy Moore (Saved!), Dennis
Quaid (The Rookie), and writer/director Paul Weitz (About a Boy)

"You make me feel like a better person. But I'm not a better person. I'm me." So quoth megalomaniacal Martin Tweed (Grant), host of the number one show on TV, a pop singing reality show called "American Dreamz" (that's "dreamz...with a Z"). Bored with the normal batch of milquetoast, predictable contestants, Martin decides to shake things up ("Find me an Arab! An Arab and a Jew") by recruiting some real
"freaks" for contestants. Martin gets his wish: a hip hop Hasidic Jew (Adam Busch); Omer (Sam Golzari), a sweetnatured, showtunes-singing al-Qaeda trainee who's a sleeper cell agent living with rich, oblivious Orange County relatives; and fame-obsessed, smalltown Ohio girl Sally Kendoo (Moore). Desperately needing an image overhaul after suffering a nervous breakdown from (gasp!) reading the newspaper, simplistic United States President Staton (Quaid) agrees to come on
the show's season finale as a guest host, where Omer's handlers plan on taking him out.

But it's funny - really! A hugely comedic satire, "American Dreamz" messes with all that is distinctly American, particularly the blurring of the lines between reality, entertainment, and politics (are there any lines anymore?). From the over-commercialization of TV to the one-dimensional "you're either with us or against us" divisive nature of public policy, Weitz's zingy "Dreamz" has an opinion on everything
in this country. Fame is relative, power and influence clearly are in the hands of all the wrong people, and a virulent, self-important strain of American narcissism is pervasive throughout the pic. That is the point, however, of the witty, yet at times over the top script (mostly in dealing with just how stupid President Staton is - I get
it: Staton equals Bush, VP Sutter equals Cheney, Cheney is the puppetmaster... Hardee har har - let's move on) by Paul Weitz. Engagingly entertaining on many levels, even just from the sheer diversity of his disparate characters and scenarios, Weitz's "Dreamz" is fun, but not nearly as nuanced as his takes on the evils of
corporate vertical integration (In Good Company) or human connectivity (About a Boy). But "American Karaoke", er, "American Idol" bashers take heart - they spoof every type of previous Idol contestant, from Fantasia to Clay to Bo Bice. Listen - it's hilarity ensuing!

Winkingly splashing around the parody pool, Dennis Quaid is exceedingly daft as religious freak, George W. Bush doppelganger President Staton. His President is so "handled" by Willem Dafoe's Vice President Sutter, that he's fed his lines via a hidden earpiece - to the point where he feels like a mere policy "placebo." John Cho and Judy Greer are excellent (if underused) Martin Tweed bootlickers. Sam Golzari's cherubic, pudgy face as Omer, the reluctant terrorist, is, strangely enough, the heart of "American Dreamz," seeing how Grant's spot on Simon Cowell-Ryan Seacrest lovechild of an impersonation as Martin Tweed is bereft of one (he's called, among other things, a "preening, self-involved idiot"). Hugh Grant, as charming as he is, plays unlikable so easily, he's coasting, yet agreeably so. Long haired Persian queen Iqbal, played by Tony Yalda, is a diva's diva with his lavender shirts and epidermis of spoiled, self-loathing shame. Toss in his Britney Spears choreography to some truly horrible singing/styling, plus the omnipresent ball of neuroses sitting on his shoulder like a pirate's parrot, and Yalda's Iqbal dang near steals the show.

But you could never steal the show from REEL DEAL Crush Mandy Moore. Oh, it is SO official now - there ain't nothin' my Crush can't do. Of course, the singing part comes naturally to the former recording artist. Acting? Her Sally Kendoo, all cynical, naked ambition honey glazed over with a coat of faux middle-Americana
girl-next-doorsy-ness, is both morally bankrupt and irresistibly sexy at the same time. Powered by extremely self-aware, jadedly focused, smoldering sea-green eyes, Moore's Sally is her own Svengali, ruling everything and everyone around her with an acidic media savvy that seems inherent to everyone born after 1980. Just when you're ready to hate on her for mercilessly dumping her fried chicken-chompin'
boyfriend William Williams (Chris Klein) the second after she gets the show, my Crush Moore reels you back in with heapin' helpin's of smalltown girl pluckiness - you gotta love her.

Or not. Love it or hate it, with eight films in various stages of production, more Moore is on its way. Sounds like my "American Dreamz" have come true.

@@@ REELS
(THREE REELS)
It's pretty hot – go give it a shot.

Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com!

Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com




			BlackNLA Movie Reviews ***THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*** by Edwardo Jackson BIASES: late 20s black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare AMERICAN DREAMZ (PG-13) MOVIE BIASES: Paul Weitz, Hugh Grant, Mandy Moore...pre-sold! MAJOR PLAYERS: Hugh Grant (About a Boy), Mandy Moore (Saved!), Dennis Quaid (The Rookie), and writer/director Paul Weitz (About a Boy) "You make me feel like a better person. But I'm not a better person. I'm me." So quoth megalomaniacal Martin Tweed (Grant), host of the number one show on TV, a pop singing reality show called "American Dreamz" (that's "dreamz...with a Z"). Bored with the normal batch of milquetoast, predictable contestants, Martin decides to shake things up ("Find me an Arab! An Arab and a Jew") by recruiting some real "freaks" for contestants. Martin gets his wish: a hip hop Hasidic Jew (Adam Busch); Omer (Sam Golzari), a sweetnatured, showtunes-singing al-Qaeda trainee who's a sleeper cell agent living with rich, oblivious Orange County relatives; and fame-obsessed, smalltown Ohio girl Sally Kendoo (Moore). Desperately needing an image overhaul after suffering a nervous breakdown from (gasp!) reading the newspaper, simplistic United States President Staton (Quaid) agrees to come on the show's season finale as a guest host, where Omer's handlers plan on taking him out. But it's funny - really! A hugely comedic satire, "American Dreamz" messes with all that is distinctly American, particularly the blurring of the lines between reality, entertainment, and politics (are there any lines anymore?). From the over-commercialization of TV to the one-dimensional "you're either with us or against us" divisive nature of public policy, Weitz's zingy "Dreamz" has an opinion on everything in this country. Fame is relative, power and influence clearly are in the hands of all the wrong people, and a virulent, self-important strain of American narcissism is pervasive throughout the pic. That is the point, however, of the witty, yet at times over the top script (mostly in dealing with just how stupid President Staton is - I get it: Staton equals Bush, VP Sutter equals Cheney, Cheney is the puppetmaster... Hardee har har - let's move on) by Paul Weitz. Engagingly entertaining on many levels, even just from the sheer diversity of his disparate characters and scenarios, Weitz's "Dreamz" is fun, but not nearly as nuanced as his takes on the evils of corporate vertical integration (In Good Company) or human connectivity (About a Boy). But "American Karaoke", er, "American Idol" bashers take heart - they spoof every type of previous Idol contestant, from Fantasia to Clay to Bo Bice. Listen - it's hilarity ensuing! Winkingly splashing around the parody pool, Dennis Quaid is exceedingly daft as religious freak, George W. Bush doppelganger President Staton. His President is so "handled" by Willem Dafoe's Vice President Sutter, that he's fed his lines via a hidden earpiece - to the point where he feels like a mere policy "placebo." John Cho and Judy Greer are excellent (if underused) Martin Tweed bootlickers. Sam Golzari's cherubic, pudgy face as Omer, the reluctant terrorist, is, strangely enough, the heart of "American Dreamz," seeing how Grant's spot on Simon Cowell-Ryan Seacrest lovechild of an impersonation as Martin Tweed is bereft of one (he's called, among other things, a "preening, self-involved idiot"). Hugh Grant, as charming as he is, plays unlikable so easily, he's coasting, yet agreeably so. Long haired Persian queen Iqbal, played by Tony Yalda, is a diva's diva with his lavender shirts and epidermis of spoiled, self-loathing shame. Toss in his Britney Spears choreography to some truly horrible singing/styling, plus the omnipresent ball of neuroses sitting on his shoulder like a pirate's parrot, and Yalda's Iqbal dang near steals the show. But you could never steal the show from REEL DEAL Crush Mandy Moore. Oh, it is SO official now - there ain't nothin' my Crush can't do. Of course, the singing part comes naturally to the former recording artist. Acting? Her Sally Kendoo, all cynical, naked ambition honey glazed over with a coat of faux middle-Americana girl-next-doorsy-ness, is both morally bankrupt and irresistibly sexy at the same time. Powered by extremely self-aware, jadedly focused, smoldering sea-green eyes, Moore's Sally is her own Svengali, ruling everything and everyone around her with an acidic media savvy that seems inherent to everyone born after 1980. Just when you're ready to hate on her for mercilessly dumping her fried chicken-chompin' boyfriend William Williams (Chris Klein) the second after she gets the show, my Crush Moore reels you back in with heapin' helpin's of smalltown girl pluckiness - you gotta love her. Or not. Love it or hate it, with eight films in various stages of production, more Moore is on its way. Sounds like my "American Dreamz" have come true. @@@ REELS (THREE REELS) It's pretty hot – go give it a shot. Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com! Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com © 2004, Edwardo Jackson