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American Dreamz
R1 - America - Universal Pictures Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak and Stevie McCleary (12th November 2006). |
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The Film
 From the director of "American Pie" (1999) and "About a Boy" (2002) comes "American Dreamz" ("Dreamz with a Z") a film that lampoons the two biggest jokes in America today: "American Idol" (2002-Present" and George W. Bush. And it does it pretty well, in my eyes, despite getting a lot of flack overseas. I'm not even going to bother doing this with the character names they use in the film. "American Dreamz" features Simon Cowell (Hugh Grant) as he searches to keep his Pop Idol show interesting to him. He finds this interest in Kelly Clarkson (Mandy Moore) who appears to be the only human being he doesn't loathe. Meanwhile, American President George W. Bush (Dennis Quaid) decides to try something new. And that's read the newspaper, much to the chagrin of Dick Cheney (Willem Dafoe) who finds it necessary to feed the President lines through an earpiece so the public doesn't realise he's lost it. Then throw in the worst Arab sleeper cell agent ever (Sam Golzari), who loves show tunes, that also becomes a contestant on "American Dreamz". His problems begin when he finds out President Bush is guest-judging the season finale to up his approval rating. Along with Jennifer Coolidge as Mandy Moore's mother, and Chris Klein as the Military boyfriend that she keeps around for middle American ratings, and you have a film that sure brightened my day. Some people are not going to like it because it pokes fun at the whole 'War on Terror' shtick. But that's what happens when you get too close to something. You start failing to see the funny side of things. Yes, even war. And the funny side here is how far out the logic of America has gotten in recent years. The success of "American Idol" and Bush being re-elected are probably the two biggest "What the?!" moments in recent history. Now there is a good argument to be made for the film being too cynical for its own good, and that it is in bad taste. I think it depends on your own personal outlook. Satire by its nature is inflammatory to certain people and it's not going to go down well. The film does take a while to set-up its various plot threads, which can leave you a bit befuddled for the first half hour as you wonder what these very different stories have to do with each other (especially if you hadn't read the back of the DVD package like me). Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but it did stand out a bit. The film does wander between satire and all-out farce at times. Quaid's performance at times is beautifully subtle and yet soon after just played for laughs. The same comes from Grant, deviating from his normal mushy style to play the Cowell character, which is sometimes understated and sometimes over the top. You can't work out if you love or hate him, which is possibly what they were aiming for, which is quite hit and miss. Add that to the ridiculous racial stereotypes featured throughout…it will either aggravate you or entertain you. Unfortunately I don't think there is much of a middle ground. It's difficult to tell which way most people would go watching this film. It entertained me when I'd had a really bad day, giving me quite a few laughs. Other people I've spoken to found the film wasn't as good as it made itself out to be-neither funny enough nor smart enough for its own good. These points are valid and, even though I enjoyed the film, they could have done much more with the material they chose to cover. The uneven style of comedy, back and forth from satire to sitcom, prevents it from being a really good film. That said, depending on what your sense of humour is, this film can be very entertaining to those with the right sense of humour and knowledge of the American culture
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 this anamorphic transfer is a good representation of the film but could use some improvement. The majority of the image is sharp and detailed although some shots appear too soft, these include a few scenes in Sally's house. I also noticed that the transfer has some minor moire issues with some hard lines, edge-enhancement makes an unwelcome appearance in a few scenes as well. Despite these flaws the color is quite vibrant and rich with skin tones appearing natural, blacks are deep and shadow detail was consistently good throughout the transfer.
Audio
Three audio tracks are included in English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its English soundtrack. This 5.1 track was not as dynamic and immersive as I was expecting, although the dialogue is clear and distortion free I was expecting to be enveloped by the musical performances but instead I got a loud mix that incorporate crowd noises in the mix. Mixing music at a slightly louder volume than dialogue does not make for an immersive track. There was so much potential that the sound mixers missed out on, however on the flip side will likely please most people, but keen observers such as myself notice more than the average viewer. Optional subtitles are included in English for the hearing impaired, French and Spanish.
Extras
First up we have an audio commentary by writer/director Paul Weitz and actor Sam Golzari. Weitz provides some interesting anecdotes throughout this track as he comments on the writing of the film and dealing with themes relating to the decline of the American culture through the vocabulary of comedy. He talks briefly about his influences such as Mel Brooks and Woody Allen. He delves into the making of a low budget film and working with crew that help fill the frame with interesting visuals that don't give away the film's small budget. Some of the interesting topics he covers include the mechanics of performance and mixing craft with a degree of spontaneity especially with the more experienced cast. He also goes into character detail and not wanting them to seem like send-offs of the real people these characters are based on, the importance was not to come off as a sketch spoof but use the real people as a basis for the performance and to add texture to them. He rarely provides any technical details or goes into any production issues but instead focuses on the themes, tone, style, characters, story arcs and what interested him in making the film. Then around the 45 minute mark actor Golzari joins the track and the two talk about shooting his scenes, auditioning for the film and he also shares his thoughts on this being his first major feature film. Golzari's presence is welcome and he provides some insight into the filming, his character and working with the cast. Throughout this track Weitz is aware not to fall into the DVD commentary pitfalls such as spending most of the time complimenting people and instead focuses on meaningful information to share with the viewer and the result is a rather insightful and interesting track to listen to, in fact this is one of the most pleasurable commentary tracks that I have listened to. Next up is "Center Stage: Sally Kendoo" a featurette that runs for 3 minutes 57 seconds and features actress Mandy Moore in character as she takes us on a tour of the 'American Dreamz' stage as she talks about her song choices and hopes of winning the competition. This short clip is supposed to be a fun promotional piece but it's ultimately lame and not worth repeat viewing. Following that is an equally hollow piece entitled "Dance Dreamz" a featurette that runs for 7 minutes 27 seconds and takes a look at the dance routines for the Omer character as the choreographer uses the character's background to develop the dances. Rounding out the extras are a series of deleted scenes presented in a reel that runs for 12 minutes 7 seconds, these include some promo spots for the 'American Dreamz' new series which includes more video footage of the contestants, plus a scene with Omer and his cousins shopping at the mall, Sally and Tweed race off in the Ferari while William is oblivious, The President breaks down and cries in his wife's arms, two more contestants singing segments are also included as well as Sally worrying about losing the competition, Tweed meets the President before the show, Omer has second thoughts about performing, Ittles complains about his job and finally two versions of a Secret Service agent flirting with a girl while Omer runs through to dispose of the bomb. The commentary is clearly the stand out feature on this DVD, it's s shame that the other video extras could not have been produced to the same level of excellence.
Overall
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