reMedia!

An entertainment blog that pops culture right in the kisser.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

film | American idle

It doesn't get much riper for the mocking than the current presidential administration or elimination-style reality television, and here comes AMERICAN DREAMZ with a deliciously timely premise that aims to skewer both the bumbling George Bush regime and the cornball talent scouting of American Idol, and with a nifty cast that includes Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Jennifer Coolidge and Mandy Moore (in wickedly self-spoofing Saved! mode) to boot. It certainly sounds like it can't miss. So what the hell happened?

The huge problem: American Dreamz is considerably less amusing than either the brazenly aloof posturing that accompanies your typical Bush address or any given American Idol episode in which judge Paula Abdul verbally flails her way through a performance critique. It's a wobbly build-up to a punchline that never quite arrives, mostly due to a screenplay — by director Paul Weitz (About a Boy) — that abandons an array of decidedly farcical characters in situations and subplots that don't pack much punch. The movie wants to be a snarky satire of water-cooler topicalities, but it feels obvious and underdeveloped, and a single segment of The Daily Show dispenses wittier views of pop and political cultures than American Dreamz does in its entire 102-minute running time.

Oh, but this is one terrific collection of sly comedic turns. Grant, an actor who's capable of injecting bizarre glimmers of winsomeness in even his shrewdest roles, has more than a few lip-smacking moments as the narcissistic host of an American Idol-esque TV hit on which the languid U.S. prez (Quaid, doing a game but sympathetic riff on Dubya) is pressured into appearing in order to boost his droopy approval ratings. (Scary how it almost seems ... plausible.) It's a fantastic opportunity for an Arab terrorist cell to strap a bomb to a reluctant new recruit (the good-humored Sam Golzari) who's entered the contest as showtune-belting underdog. Chief scene-stealers: pop singer Moore, pitch-perfect as a midwestern karaoke champ too willing to jump into fame-whore training pants when she's selected for the competition, and Tony Yalda, howlingly dead-on as Golzari's pompously preening Persian-American cousin and eager stylist.

Moore's becoming the go-to girl for lampooning the faux-wholesome image all her bubblegum-teen-diva contemporaries embraced early on in their careers before tarting it up the closer they got to 20. It's a shame the film isn't as adventuresome. American Dreamz needs to really bite the hand of the culture that provided its targets. Instead, it happily laps at a few fingers, then pees on the floor. C+

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home