Terry McMahon's Awesome Blog

Yo, a while back I talked about how much I wanted to see American Dreamz, and how awesome it looked from the preview. I couldn't tell if it was going to be slapstick or serious. Answer: mostly detached semi-intellectual humor, with an occasional bout of thought provocation. Good movie.

Anyway, despite it coming out around the middle of April (maybe smore's birthday?), I got to see an advance screening tonight, sans end credits. I should start off by saying I have no idea what the purpose was of this screening; there was no dial where we could see that Milhouse loves Speedo Man, and no mirrors talking softly. It was actually just a regular theater in the Loews at Times Square. We filled out cards in advance saying how old we were and what race we were, and other than that, nothing. Why were they showing this to us? Did they want to see when we laughed? The climactic scene is pretty tense, or at least it could go either really happy or really sad, and I realized all of a sudden that they might be testing the bad ending on us. The ending wound up being surprising and somewhat bad, so maybe that was indeed their intent.

It was a good movie. I traditionally don't review movies on here because I generally don't have anything interesting to say about them. (Spoiler alert: no exception here.) Nonetheless, this is a movie that's not coming out for a couple of months, so I figure I'll do the world a favor by slightly shaping the buzz. Or something.

Anyway, the most striking part of American Dreamz was that the humor was really effective. It was a complete sendup of popular culture in politics and entertainment, but it was never condescending. It mocked American Idol, with the understanding that it's one of the most popular shows on TV, and it mocked the president, with the understanding that we voted the guy into another term. In other words, the joke was never that the American people are morons, so everyone could appreciate the humor. It felt like we were all laughing at ourselves instead of laughing at morons. As for my own field of semi-expertise, there were a fair number of political jokes, but it was never heavy-handed, and while the president was as flawed as any of the other characters here, he was always portrayed as a reasonably decent human being trying to do the right thing.

This is not a movie that will change your perspective on life and who we are. Ultimately, it's not that serious. There are a few moments though of real insight, like when the al-Qaeda member comes to terms with what he's seen of America, and when all the disparate characters (the president, the American Idol host, the ambitious young singer, her boyfriend, and our terrorist friend) come together at the end, there are a few decent moments as well. Personally, the movie was funny enough and covered enough of my favorite topics that I felt pretty fulfilled watching it. I'm not sure how other people would enjoy it.

My only real criticism is the ending. I said above it's bad, in the plot sense, but it was also bad in that they did a "where are they now" kind of deal that fell pretty flat. None of the outcomes for these characters seemed especially relevant or fitting, and it was as if the life-changing climax didn't change anyone's lives at all. The more I think about it, the more I suspect I was there to judge that ending: the epilogue probably works with every ending they filmed, and they're trying to figure out what fit best. It wasn't this one.

So that's the story of my first advance screening of a movie. Here's hoping I won't get a lawsuit for posting this, especially since I recommend seeing this movie when it gets released to you losers in April.

While I'm here:

This is why I read TechEBlog. It's a shower light that you put over the nozzle. It's self-powered and changes color based on the temperature. How is that not awesome? I could use more colorful showers.

This chick is such an awful human being it's hilarious. Also, I love people are so arrogant that they don't mind when everyone finds out what a jackass they are, because they just assume they're fantastic. Very good times.

Finally, if you know me, check this out. I'm not sure it'll provide actual insight, but, while we're here, we might as well see.