American Dreamz
Surprisingly, the reality TV connection here (even more specifically, the “American Idol” connection) never struck me as reason enough to avoid it entirely; still, it did take Music & Lyrics to give me the hunger for more Hugh Grant and therefore the urge to see this movie. I figured, even if the rest of it was worse than accidentally switching on to AI itself on the TV, at least he’d be good.
Well, Hugh is once again brilliant, certainly between this and M&L you can count me as a fan of his, and I really wasn’t that keen on him before. But I couldn’t have imagined how brilliant the rest of the movie turned out to be. I honestly kinda thought it’d just be a Scary Movie style cheap shot at the whole scenario … I mean we’re dealing with the guy who made American Pie here (I know, he’s done a lot of better stuff since, I’m just taking a cheap shot myself :P) But seriously, considering the subject matter (the reality TV side of it at least), it really did almost have every right to be as dumb and simple as its target (as far as any movie has that right, anyway). The movie’s most pleasant surprise is how sharply it differs from what easily could’ve been. Sure, it’s not exactly highbrow – the ethnic minorities are stereotyped to almost early-Nineties level (think True Lies or Hot Shots) – but this only added to the movie’s unique surprise for me.
Dennis Quaid and Willem Dafoe (who I giggled at probably a full ten minutes when I finally realised it was him, lol) are fantastic as, well, let’s not be coy, Bush and Cheney. Ever since Chicago I’ve always thought Richard Gere would make a great Bush-a-like, but Quaid lends the part a really eerie sort of gravitas that reflects the odd turns the character takes here. Mandy Moore is, of course, perfect as the stereotypical midwestern contestant (“We’re not white trash.” “Of course you aren’t – but it doesn’t hurt to pretend. All Americans think they’re middle class, and they need someone to look down on.” “We are middle class.”) – she’s in fact the most realistic thing about the admittedly shaky reproduction of the AI show itself.
All things considered, I found this to be more surprisingly brilliant, bold, frightening and funny than I could possibly have err, dreamed.