AmericanDreamz Tagged Articles at Cinematical

According to a source over at Deadline Hollywood, Golden Compass director Chris Weitz has been offered the directing gig on New Moon and possibly Eclipse, should both films shoot back-to-back. Nikki Finke's source says Weitz, who's apparently "still considering" the offer, was chosen because Summit Entertainment "liked the look" of Compass, even though it bombed at the box office, and also because Weitz is buddies with Summit's president of production, Eric Feig.

Apart from Compass, Weitz had a big role in the original American Pie (as a producer and uncredited director); he also co-wrote and directed the excellent About a Boy adaptation, and served as producer on flicks like Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, In Good Company and American Dreamz. Personally, I'm a fan of Weitz (and his brother Paul), and blame the domestic failure of Compass more on some folks' inability to wrap their heads around the story's vast universe. However, he is a boy ... and last I checked, boys might not be allowed into the Twilight clubhouse.

What do you folks think of Weitz? Is he a good replacement?

The commercial I saw for American Dreamz the other night introduces us to the main characters: The President; The Chief of Staff; The Wanna-Be Star; The Boyfriend; The TV Host; The Stage Mother. Unfortunately, those descriptions are about as deep as the character development gets in this tepid comedy from Paul Weitz, the director of About a Boy, In Good Company and American Pie. While no one gets it on with a hot dessert in Weitz's newest film, neither does the comedy ever get more than lukewarm. I suspect this is one of those movie ideas that sounded a whole lot better in the pitch meeting than when it ended up in theaters.  

Part of the problem is that the film doesn't really seem to know what it wants to be when it grows up. We have a wanna-be political satire about a dumb Southern president (gee, wonder who Dennis Quaid is supposed to be lampooning here?) who wakes up the day after his reelection and decides to start thinking. His sedated First Lady is played by Marcia Gay Harden (so obviously Laura Bush she might as well be wearing a "Hello My Name Is ..." tag), and Willem Dafoe, doing his best Dick Cheney impression, is the controlling Chief of Staff.

Then we have the would-be social satire of a reality TV show where wanna-be pop tarts perform for the votes of audience members, and things aren't always what they seem on camera. Weitz works again with Hugh Grant, his star from About A Boy, who plays Martin Tweed, the snarky, British, malcontented host of the show. If you're going to cast anyone in the part of a Simon Cowell-esque TV host, you couldn't do much better than to cast Grant in the part. Likewise, Mandy Moore (playing against type again, as she did in Saved!, by playing a nice girl who's really not-so-nice beneath the surface) is an excellent choice to play Sally Kendoo, who is so desperate to leave behind her "white trash rural Ohio roots" she would probably sacrifice her own mother (Jennifer Coolidge) for success.

It's the last day to toss in your input on our new name, so get to it. Otherwise, today's show has a recap of the Cannes lineup, and news regarding Woody Allen, Julia Roberts, and films new in theaters.

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Hosts
Karina Longworth

Editor
Randall Bennett

Music
Love as Laughter - I'm a bee

Format
4:26, 28.6 MB

Program
00:00 - Cannes film fest listings released
01:22 - Woody Allen pulling out of Paris, back to London for him
02:40 - Give Julia Roberts some credit for hitting the stage, since no one else is
03:37 - What's poppin' at your local cinema

Our corporate sugar-daddies at AOL have this contest going for American Dreamz: record yourself singing the American Dreamz theme song and send them a video. They'll post the best (and what do you wanna bet the worst, too) entries for readers to vote on. See, it's kinda like American Idol, but without the snark of Simon Cowell and whatever-she's-on-this-week antics and gravity-defying boobage of Paula Abdul.

I haven't seen American Dreamz yet (Jette just wrote a review from SXSW, and I'll be reviewing it later from a non-festival screening), but just on the description - the president of the United States serving as a judge on an Idol type show? Riiiiight. Because the first thing you want to do when you have a president having a breakdown is put him on TV without his teleprompter, right? Besides, what better use for the time of the leader of the Free World than judging a pop star show? Honestly - am I the only one who thinks this concept was doomed to the realms of banality from the get-go?

Okay, criticism of the concept of the film aside, some of  you might actually have the spare time and inclination (and hopefully talent as well)  to enter this contest. If you're interested, check it out over here. Warning: you have to sing the Mandy Moore song - you can't be all cool and do your own version of Live's cover of Walk the Line or anything. But I must admit - seeing some tattooed, heavy metal rocker boy blasting out a Mandy Moore song would probably make my day.

Thanks to hot tipper Mike for pointing us to this gem.