On the morning of his re-election, the President decides to read the newspaper for the first time in four years. This starts him down a slippery slope. He begins reading obsessively, reexamining his black and white view of the world, holing up in his bedroom in his pajamas. Frightened by the President’s apparent nervous breakdown, his Chief of Staff pushes him back into the spotlight, booking him as a guest judge on the television ratings juggernaut (and the President’s personal fave), the weekly talent show American Dreamz. America can’t seem to get enough of American Dreamz, hosted by self-aggrandizing, self-loathing Martin Tweed, ever on the lookout for the next insta-celebrity. His latest crop of hopefuls includes Sally, a conniving steel magnolia with a devoted, dopey veteran boyfriend, and Omer, a recent Southern Californian immigrant (who just happens to be a bumbling, show tune singing, would-be terrorist awaiting activation). When both Sally and Omer make it to the final round of Dreamz—where the President will be judging along with Tweed—the stage is set for a show the nation will never forget.


Paul Weitz fits comfortably into a category with a rare group of modern Hollywood’s most interesting filmmakers. He got his start with the smash hit raunch comedy American Pie in 1999, but he hasn’t been locked into the by now worn out, tired out, teen gross-out comedy genre.

Instead, he went on to make the critically acclaimed, sometimes poignant comedy About a Boy, reviving the slightly less than lustrous career of Hugh Grant in the process, by returning him to critics’ good graces. Last year Weitz hit again, harnessing the talents of Topher Grace, Dennis Quaid, and Scarlett Johnasson in the quiet success In Good Company, a film about corporate America and getting old.

Weitz’s films so far have all been rather unexpected, but none more unusual than his next one American Dreamz. The concept sounds like a moviegoing nightmare, a hopeless mishmash of the most in-the-moment pop culture crap and annoying political relevance. Throw Michael Moore in a blender with Shrek, and the trailers for American Dreamz might be the horrifying result.

Sure the idea sounds cringe-worthy, but its Weitz and that makes it worth giving a chance. He made the idea of a movie about teenagers screwing pies into something special, why not this as well? American Idol meets the terrorism… maybe this is a case of an idea being so bad, so terrible, that it just might work.




More American Dreamz info from Cinema Blend News (BNN)
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