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American Carol, An

EMAILPRINTVivendi Entertainment

American Carol, An reviews
20
5.6 User Score:

Generally unfavorable reviews

Based on 12 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 210 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Comedy

Written by: David Zucker
Myrna Sokoloff

Directed by: David Zucker

Release Date:
Theatrical: October 3, 2008
DVD: December 30, 2008

Running Time: 83 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for rude and irreverent content, and for language and brief drug material

Starring Kelsey Grammer, Kevin Farley, Trace Adkins, Jon Voight, Leslie Nielsen, and Dennis Hopper

The American spirit is celebrated in the comedy An American Carol. In An American Carol a cynical, Anti-American “Hollywood” filmmaker sets out on a crusade to abolish the 4th of July holiday. He is visited by 3 ghosts who take him on a hilarious journey in an attempt to show him the true meaning of America. (Vivendi Entertainment)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

50

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Ultimately, the problem with An American Carol is the problem with far too much political discourse in this country, left or right: It highlights the worst excesses of the opposition for the sole purpose of discrediting the vast middle.

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50

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

A loony attack on wacko liberalism and a ding-dong defense of wacko conservatism.

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50

Los Angeles Times Gary Goldstein

It's a gag-strewn, hit-and-miss affair that's not without its chuckles.

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40

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

The sole laughs are scored by Robert Davi, amusingly playing it straight as a Muslim terrorist who wants to hire Malone to make a suicide bomber recruitment film.

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40

The New York Times Nathan Lee

Cheap shots and mean spirits abound, as do celebrity cameos (James Woods, Jon Voight, Dennis Hopper, Kelsey Grammer). But it's the laziness of the writing that most offends.

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30

Variety Todd McCarthy

Conservatives score a few political points but aren't very funny in An American Carol, a cheesy spitball directed at the very large target of a Michael Moore-like filmmaker.

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25

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

About as not-funny as a comedy can get.

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20

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

Astonishingly inept alleged satire.

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12

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Even if it weren't three years too late to parody Moore (ineptly played by Kevin Farley), Moore's ridiculous tribute to Cuban health care in "Sicko" is far funnier than anything in this desperately laughless farce from David Zucker ("Scary Movie 3").

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12

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Bad enough to earn a rare spot on my hallowed list of ''The Worst Movies I've Ever Seen,'' An American Carol is testament that the country's culture wars are raging just as strongly within Hollywood as anywhere else.

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11

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Michael Moore has nothing to fear from David Zucker.

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0

The Onion (A.V. Club) Sam Adams

Great satire never fits neatly within an ideological box. Attention, the ghosts of H.L. Mencken, Stanley Kubrick, and Jonathan Swift: David Zucker could use a visit.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 5.6 (out of 10) based on 210 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Peter gave it a10:
Great Flick. You can be assured that anyone on this site who doesn't like it, is a liberal.

Mr Ed gave it a9:
Absolutely hilarious. Seeing "Michael Monroe" being slapped by real Americans makes it worthwhile, but there's so much more. Rosie's part on the O'Reilly show was a hoot; add in; inept terrorists, the spirits of Patton, G. Washington and Kennedy teaching Michael M. about the real America, and the jabs at MM for only winning a "documentary" file award. Of course, Liberals won't appreciate it (look at the media reviews!). Funny how "culture wars" are wrong when your viewpoint is under attack.

Robert F gave it a0:
It should be impossible to make a comedy this unfunny.

David gave it an8:
This is a really funny comedy. Had it attacked conservatives instead of liberals the critics would have rated it 60 or higher.

Misu R gave it a1:
I like Michael Moore and I was looking forward to laughing at his expense. I love satire. The problem with this movie is that it lost all capabilities of producing real comedy. The slapstick was funny, but the overall bias destroyed the satire. It was an "If you don't believe how we believe, you are unpatriotic" mess. Kelsey Grammar is one of my favorite actors but the lines given to him made me want to puke. They just weren't funny. They were filled with pathetic generalizations. That is not comedy. Comedy makes fun of details (especially ones that we tend to look over). Even though I hate the way they portrayed the ACLU, it was still funny. I like killing zombies. The only laughed more at how the movie showed the inability of some Americans to see beyond black and white. It truly showed how ignorant too many of us tend to be. Whether you are liberal or conservative, this movie was not worth the money. I wouldn't even suggest renting it on DVD. Maybe watching it on cable when you have to clean the house.

dave k gave it an8:
Has some pretty funny parts. I guess if I were a liberal person I would be offended and give it a bad review. It's refreshing to see somethiing come out of Hollywood that's not the same spoon-fed dolt fodder.

Sabrina D gave it a10:
Hilarious! Def. some low blows to the Liberals! but couldnt be more true! loved it!

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