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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

67
$9.99
75
24 City
66
Adoration
74
Afghan Star
48
Alien Trespass
56
American Violet
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57
Away We Go
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
62
Big Man Japan
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55
Brothers Bloom, The
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx
Call of the Wild
63
Cheri
62
Cherry Blossoms
63
Dead Snow
65
Departures
18
Downloading Nancy
58
Easy Virtue
70
End of the Line, The
77
Every Little Step
64
Examined Life
80
Food, Inc.
38
Gigantic
56
Girl from Monaco, The
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
87
Gomorrah
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Great Buck Howard, The
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx
Home
82
Hunger
91
Hurt Locker, The
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
81
Il Divo
54
Is Anybody There?
71
Jerichow
58
Julia
74
Lemon Tree
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
40
Limits of Control, The
42
Little Ashes
64
Lymelife
50
Management
57
Merry Gentleman, The
66
Moon
35
New York
62
Not Forgotten
xx
Offshore
78
O'Horten
64
Outrage
40
Paris 36
54
Pontypool
71
Pressure Cooker
52
Quiet Chaos
83
Revanche
67
Rudo y Cursi
86
Seraphine
65
Sex Positive
70
Shall We Kiss?
77
Sin Nombre
59
Sleep Dealer
74
Song of Sparrows, The
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
82
Sugar
84
Summer Hours
61
Sunshine Cleaning
28
Surveillance
42
Tennessee
63
Tetro
64
Throw Down Your Heart
80
Tokyo Sonata
63
Tokyo!
70
Tony Manero
74
Treeless Mountain
88
Tulpan
74
Two Lovers
83
Tyson
83
U2 3D
60
Under Our Skin
69
Unmistaken Child
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
22
What Goes Up
45
Whatever Works
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
91
Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
88
Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
24 City
74
Treeless Mountain
74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
Lymelife
63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
Cherry Blossoms
62
Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
American Violet
55
Brothers Bloom, The
54
Is Anybody There?
54
Pontypool
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
American Dreamz
Universal Pictures
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for brief strong language and some sexual references
Starring
Hugh Grant,
Dennis Quaid,
Mandy Moore,
Marcia Gay Harden,
Willem Dafoe,
Chris Klein,
Judy Greer,
and
Sam Golzari
Paul Weitz brings us an utterly insane comedy about politics, reality TV and the idea that everybody in America has a dream - and how that 'great thing' can actually drive our culture crazy. (Universal Pictures)
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Paul Weitz
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Paul Weitz
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: October 17, 2006
Theatrical: April 21, 2006
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
107 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

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...
83
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
A blithe, funny, and engaging movie.

75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The movie is more slapdash than smooth, more impulsive than calculating, and it takes cheap shots. I responded to its savage, sloppy zeal.

75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
"Network" it's not. Weitz doesn't have the killer instinct for merciless satire but he knows how to stage a gag and deliver a punchline.

75
USA Today
Claudia Puig
Not as incisive a political commentary as "Thank You For Smoking," American Dreamz lampoons the public's appetite for mindless entertainment and easy distraction from serious concerns.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
The rare case of a movie that gets better as it goes along.

75
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
American Dreamz pitches its softballs with style. Martin Tweed, the preeningly heartless British host of the title TV show, just may be the great comic role that has always eluded Hugh Grant.

70
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
The jokes in American Dreamz whiz by with speed and grace, and Weitz maintains control of the material every minute.

70
Los Angeles Times
Carina Chocano
Grant's second coming as a rake and an egotist is the best thing to happen to his career since "Four Weddings and a Funeral." He is twice as enjoyable as the preening bad guy as he was as the bumbling good guy, and Weitz makes perfect use of the new persona.

67
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Nathan Rabin
Weitz has a winning way with a one-liner, and he's recruited a stellar cast that gets the most out of his material.

63
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
This movie seems better suited as cable or video fare than for theatrical viewing.

63
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
Where good satire is drawn with a surgeon's scalpel, this comedy is done with a brush broad enough to paint - or, at least, hit - the side of a barn. But in the softer realm of parody, it has a good premise, a couple of funny performances and enough giggles for a reasonably good time at the movies.

60
Newsweek
David Ansen
Pitched too broadly to get very deeply under your skin. Still, there are some smarts at work here, and it will make you laugh.

50
Slate
Michael Agger
As a political statement, American Dreamz is overly didactic and liberal in a read-too-many-blogs sort of way.

50
The New Republic
Stanley Kauffmann
A moderately engaging satire, some of it amusing and some of it strained, but in considerable measure it reflects a strange circumstance in all our lives.

50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
The only likable characters are ebullient Omer (Sam Golzari), a show-tune-loving reluctant Iraqi suicide bomber who comes to the O.C., and earnest William (Chris Klein), an American GI wounded in Iraq, who are mirror images.

50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Stephen Cole
Hugh Grant's Martin Tweed is nowhere as menacing (or interesting) as the callous bruiser who makes every episode of American Idol a chilling psychotic adventure.

50
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Gets the details right while missing the big picture.

50
Portland Oregonian
M. E. Russell
Putting it another way: When spoofs of bad singing and songwriting are the sharpest arrows in your quiver, and your politics are diluted until they hit about as hard as someone sticking their tongue out, your satire has a problem.

50
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
Weitz's idea of satire is generally both ludicrous and mild: exaggerating types, then sentimentalizing them.

50
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
The vision of America as a vast, ratings-driven amateur hour is not without promise, but Weitz's movie, named for the most popular TV program in its parallel universe, is disappointingly soft in its individual characterizations.

50
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
Grant, playing a variation on Simon Cowell, resident meanie on "American Idol" and its inspiration, Britain's "Pop Idol," does what's required with seedy panache. Yet the characterization, both as written and acted, lacks a spark.

50
LA Weekly
Scott Foundas
As in his previous "In Good Company," Weitz wants too much to like all of his characters, and he wants us to like them too. The result is a movie devoid of any threat, or many laughs, with barn door–broad performances.

50
The Hollywood Reporter
John DeFore
A film with none of the heart that has characterized Weitz's best work and none of the freshness of his most successful.

50
New York Magazine
David Edelstein
To keep his satirist’s street cred, Weitz chases the sentimentality with sour slaps at the audience. But for all its supposed outrageousness, American Dreamz has a soft center.

40
Variety
Robert Koehler
Combining a gallery of targets including President Bush, "American Idol," the Iraq War and the overarching theme of a nation of citizens held in the thrall of phony dreams, pic and its ambitions are undermined by insistent cartoonishness and comic ineptitude.

40
Austin Chronicle
Marrit Ingman
Maybe America will prove me wrong by voting, but I felt like you were holding back until the end.

38
Premiere
Allison Williams
The movie tires itself out setting up the complex plot.

38
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
A cartoonish, unfocused and mostly unfunny satire.

38
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
The writer-producer-director of American Dreamz makes nearly every mistake in the satirical book. His targets are either too easy or too dated. He's inconsistent in his attitudes toward them. His stereotypes are stale.

38
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
It's a redundant comedy, like hearing the same tired joke for the 100th time.

30
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
The director of "American Pie" has set out to make a merciless satire of American media culture along the lines of "Network," but his ideas are so commonplace that nothing registers except the bile.

30
The New Yorker
Anthony Lane
This picture ain't funny. I winced three times, and gave a couple of short laughs, but that was it.

30
The New York Times
Manohla Dargis
The jokes don't just fizzle into insignificance; they flop about with gaudy ineffectualness, gasping for air like newly landed trout.

30
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Weitz co-directed the wonderful "About a Boy" in 2002, but in "Dreamz" -- a tediously facile satire -- his comic instincts fail him.

30
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
The movie stands as a genuine offense against the venerable and indispensable institution of satire.
25
Christian Science Monitor
Peter Rainer
Weitz doesn't have the chops for satire, let alone black comedy.

20
Film Threat
Michael Ferraro
It is definitely the weakest movie of the Weitz catalog and will certainly be forgotten faster than Hung himself.


The average user rating for this movie is 4.0 (out of 10) based on 37 User Votes
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