American Dreamz\ tell us that beyond the superficial glitz and glamour of fame is a society of self-loathing, miserable people. ""Dreamz,"" the new film written and directed by Paul Weitz, is comedy that is indeed superficial and self-loathing. It is a comedy about pretty people who are miserable and whose misery is self-inflicted. And we do not particularly care if they ever find a way out of it.
""Dreamz"" revolves around an ""American Idol""-type show that brings together talent from across the nation and around the world. Among the contestants are preening, image-conscious Sally Kendoo (Mandy Moore) and Omer (Sam Golzari), a terrorist charged with killing the president of the United States (Dennis Quaid), who agrees to be a judge on the show. Chris Klein, Hugh Grant and Willem Dafoe also star in the film.
The cast is very good, but their lackluster script drags the performances down. Grant is great as the Simon Cowell-esque host of the show Martin Tweed, and Quaid and Dafoe have a very funny dynamic playing knock-offs of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney respectively. Golzari, a relative newcomer, is admirable as Omer, and turns out to be likeable even though he is playing a terrorist.
The plot is not as complex as it sounds, but it spreads itself too thin to allow the story to be fully enjoyed. On one hand, a film about a reality show would seem a little shallow without having several protagonists. But the characters go on so many different tangents that the film does not really settle into a rhythm. ""Dreamz"" is a film flying apart at the seams, so full of ideas that it never settles down to discuss any of the conflicts it presents. And surely there must be more original targets on which to focus a satire than ""American Idol"" and the Bush White House.
Furthermore, the characters of ""Dreamz"" are no more complex than characters in your average sitcom. We have seen countless selfish divas and Bush parodies in other places, and the film gives us nothing new. This is a disappointing effort from Weitz, who in the past so masterfully brought us characters who were both broad character types and real people as well. Films like ""American Pie"" and ""About a Boy,"" which featured clichéd plots and typical characters, were strengthened by adding a fondness for the characters and their problems. ""American Dreamz"" treats its characters only with loathing and contempt; each one is more despicable than the last, but all we know of them is their awful nature.
All of the characters are portrayed as either idiots or Machiavellian schemers, and sometimes both. They are neither endearing nor infuriating. They are just annoying. And the situations in which they find themselves are more often than not their own faults. Would Tweed be happier if he were not hosting ""American Dreamz""? Yes. Would Omer be happier if he were not a terrorist? Yes. Then why do they do it?
Ironically, ""American Dreamz"" is a movie about miserable people forced against their wills to do things they do not want to do. It is a comedy that does not just ask the audience to forget the sadness of their characters, but at times even asks you to laugh at them. Or, as Simon might say, ""If this were ‘American Nightmares,' it'd win hands down.""
\
