ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Dr_Sagan This is an attempt for a multi-satire. And by that I mean a satire with far too many recipients to be really effective in any of them.This movie tries to ...hmm...well...let's count: The dream of regular people that want basically to be famous and treated as such. Their mothers who want their children to succeed where themselves failed. The myth (?) of one true love. How ruthless can you be with other people feelings. The need for (any) heroes. The government, the POTUS and how they operate. The Jihadists who might be more into the American culture than they can admit. The long lasted public figures who are sick of themselves etc. etc. etc.The movie as an entertainment is so-so. The cast is good and it delivers some good performances but something is missing to glue them all together. A couple of scenes are funny but i personally got a sad feeling watching this movie. Especially because of the ending which I obviously won't spoil.Overall: Even if you have a couple of hours to spend I wouldn't recommended it. It's not bad but seems more like a hit and miss.

lisafordeay Alright so I watched this because I am a fan of Mandy Moore since 1999 and for her role as Rapunzel in Disney's 50th Tangled which is my favourite movie of all time along with A Walk To Remember as Jamie Sullivan.The film is about a president played by Denis Quaid who is hosting a pop idol spoof contest and the winner receives a prize. So in comes Hugh boring Grant as the Simon Cowell impersonator who's got a thing for the ladies ESPECIALLY Moore's charcther and he is on the search to find the next big thing. But who will win the contest and if you stay long enough for the end there is indeed a shocking twist that will have you either laughing at it or not.Overall this film SUCKS to its core.Its unfunny,stupid,pathetic and I really feel sorry for Ms Moore to be put up in such crap like this and to be apart of it. I mean COME ON Moore your better than this thank god you came to your senses in 2010.Nuff said I could go on but its so bad im gonna have to leave it at that. 2/10

paudie "American Dreamz" seems to have all the ingredients to be a great satirical comedy but I thought that the result was less than the sum of its parts.There is good cast, including talented actors such as Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid and Mandy Moore. The premise is also good – a satirical look at both TV talent shows and politics. However it just doesn't have enough laughs to deliver on its promise.The movie is about a show like Pop Idol or the X Factor. The shows producers and its jaded presenter, played by Grant, are desperate to keep ratings high and so handpick the contestants they want to be in the final One of these is played by Moore. She appears as an All-American girl next door but will do ANYTHING to win. By accident, Omer, an Arab staying with cousins in the US is also picked. He also happens to be a sleeper agent for an Islamic terrorist group. The other thread to the movie is about the US President, played by Dennis Quaid. He is depressed and refuses to go out in public but is persuaded by his Chief of Staff (Willem Dafoe) to increase his popularity by going on the shows finale as a judge.Perhaps it is the presence of two radically different story lines that leads to the movie struggling unsuccessfully to be funny. There are too many characters that we have to keep track of. A potentially interesting storyline about the relationship between the Grant's character and Moore's, one more self obsessed than the other, is not explored fully as the movies rushes to a chaotic and unsatisfying climax.

CitizenCaine At the time this movie was made, American Idol voters already rivaled political election voters. Director Paul Weitz, who gave us American Pie, throws everything in including the kitchen sink in this movie: an inept president facing a crisis of confidence (who mirrors one George W. Bush intentionally or not), a Broadway music-loving terrorist trainee, and intellectually vapid young Americans doing what they do best: kissing themselves in front of mirrors, running to the mall, and self-indulging. There are some bright moments to be sure in this satire vs. farce, but several scenes are often uncomfortably close to reality, as in the self-absorbed bratty Mandy Moore character who resembled some of the female students I taught over the years. Hugh Grant is much better than usual as a Simon Cowell type host of an American Idol type show, revealing just how laughably phony that type of show really is. Willem Dafoe is funny as a Dick Cheney look-a-like, but Dennis Quaid is wasted as the befuddled president. The terrorist sub-plot doesn't really work that well either, but Chris Klein is funny as an idiot boyfriend manipulated by Mandy Moore to further her "career". **1/2 of 4 stars.