MovieChat Forums > American Dreamz (2006) Discussion > WHY so much hate for this movie?

WHY so much hate for this movie?


I'm an American, the first time I saw the movie was when it came out in the UK. We're getting ready to release it on DVD this coming week and I just watched it again, I love it!!!

I'm a republican, but anyone with half a brain (and any sense of humor) has to laugh at the protrayal of President Bush. IMO, they make fun of his person rather than his politics (which is sooooo overdone, I'd rather hear nails on a chalkboard than more Bush bashing). They hit the nail head on, and I personally can't help but laugh.

I don't get why there is so much hate. Did those who hated it expect great things? The title, font, and trailers all make it seem like a corny but funny movie (I had not seen the poster on IMDB here in the states before this website, and the DVD cover is different). It succeeded. As one of my coworkers said, "it is awesomely bad." And by awesome, she meant it is so corny that it is hilarious and awesome. (This from someone who was so critical of the Lake House because it didn't explain the time warp thing).

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Finally! Someone not so insanely critical of a movie that was not meant to be some great oscar winning hullabaloo.
There was not one thing I did not like in this movie.
It was well written and the acting was great!
If anyone has a problm with it say exactly why dont just be all "hey mandy moore is in it! A real popstar playing someone trying to get a record deal? That just preposterous, who would think of such a heinous crime?"

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Well first off i'd like to say....

The movie started off pretty good, pretty funny...whatever....::spoilers ahead::


about 3/4's into the movie I told myself "oh come on." and the end???????


THE END????????? ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME? ONE OF THE WORST ENDING'S I HAVE EVER SEEN!

the end = mandy moore's character is a ho and made it into show "biz" by physical interest.

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I think the ending is amazing. It made a real impact to me, I think it really illustrates well the fast paced and cutthroat nature of the media, and the way it exploits people and situations. And Mandy Moore's character just showed how in our society today it pays to be a ho, if you want to be famous, which she did.

Just my opinion though.

xx

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Just some things that went wrong with the movie *possible spoilers!!!*:

*SPOILERS*

1) In Omar's experience of America, he finds many nice people in the US. However his only experience was with the family (related?) he lived in. From Sally's perspective, America looks like a cold, heartless country. Mainly everyone especially Sally and Mr.Tweed had narrow minded thinking. The characters were not like able because they were developed in a terrible way.
2) The story was interesting at first. Then it became rather painful to watch. I'd have to say that out of the three point of views that the movie showed (Sally, Omar, and the President), Sally's was the worst because there isn't really much of a story there.
3) The ending had me thinking "What the hell?" Sally's mom started hitting on the agent, Sally screwed with Mr.Tweed (one of the most predictably dumb turn of events), William died (WTF - did not expect him to kill himself over that bitch), and Sally survived (OMG she's also hosting the TV show now? WTF WTF WTF!!!).

The two things this movie did right:
1) Omar was the most like able character because he was the one with a real struggle and eventually made a good decision.
2) Mr.Tweed died. I don't think I could have taken another joke, or from anyone else.

Agree?

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THAT WAS THE POINT,PEOPLE. You weren't SUPPOSED to like Sally or Tweed.

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Ah, yes... but why not? And is it *funny* not to like Sally or Tweed? After all, this was supposed to be a comedy.


If you don't like it, don't watch it. It makes your life much happier.

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I thought it was funny to not like them. I enjoyed Sally's attitude and how she played people. I liked how real Tweed was. He reminded me of many celebs. Every character in the movie had laugh out loud moments. And the story had a good flow with moments that poked fun at our culture. The movie poster says it all. We do live in this reality. It really isn't that different than the truth, and that is why it is funny, because if it wasn't funny it would be sad.

If you are Anti-American: Admit you are doing it just to be cool. Does it feel good to hate?

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I liked the movie for its plot. I wasn't so aware that every aspect of the film was a satire(apart the Bush parody), I didn't understand most of its humor. I was sad that Tweedy got killed, the ending was definitely bittersweet. I like Hugh Grant as an actor. I just viewed this movie and gave it a 6/10. That's above average and counts as a good movie imho.

Tiocfaidh ár Lá!

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''I wasn't so aware that every aspect of the film was a satire(apart the Bush parody)''

Not sure if serious...

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I would have liked it better if it had been done right after 2008 when that mor on was in the whitehouse and if the ending had had omar blowing up himself AND the moron.

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I am from Britain and I get all the Humor of the travesty of Hugh's Character drawn to "I'll do anything" Sallt to the Proposal on stage HOW USA is that? Did you notice the Jew was hardly ever mentioned I think his role was how do you say downsized

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Let me tell you, I was so anxious to see this movie. I just rented it last night and I HATED IT! I expected so much better. The script was horrible, the editing was bad, the songs were terrible. I don't understand; the cast was awesome. Let me tell you, I can find humor in pretty bad movies, but I barely even smiled in this one. I wish it would have been awesome.

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In general the critics were mixed on this movie. That means there were many including Roger Ebert who liked it. I thought it was very good and very funny. The songs were SPOOFS....they were SUPPOSED to be kind of sappy. I guess there are different opinions about everything.

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"The songs were terrible" ??????? I can say you didnt get it, sorry, it wasnt about the songs, go watch American Idol instead.

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i LOVED this movie.. It was absolutely hilarious and great! .. until the ending. maybe it's just my love for hugh grant, but i just didnt like how he was taken out of it abruptly like that. BUT, i dont see what the fuss is about American Dreamz being horrible. It was AWESOME

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The ending was the best part! I can't tell you how many times I've watched American Idol and wished for a season finale to end like that. If you didn't like this movie, you probably aren't familiar with American Idol or just don't understand this type of humor. It wasn't a laugh a minute, but there were some very amusing moments well played by Hugh Grant and Jennifer Coolidge. It was the type of subtle humor you would expect in movies like This is Spinal Tap, Best in Show or A Mighty Wind. If you didn't appreciate these types of movies, you probably won't like this too much. Parts did tend to drag on, like ok we get it, Prez Stanton is supposed to be Bush and his VP is Cheney. I didn't think the performances were any form of bashing that crossed the line, just a little poking fun at political figures. I mean they do it all the time on SNL and everybody expects it.

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"The songs were terrible" ??????? I can say you didnt get it, sorry, it wasnt about the songs, go watch American Idol instead.
The problem with this comment is that the songs took up a lot of screentime. There are probably close to 10 minutes of the film taken up by songs. If the songs are not part of what the film was about, then it's a flaw, originating with the writers and/or director, and maybe even the editor, that they spent so much time on that. And those kinds of flaws--the inclusion of far too much, often completely superfluous, material--plague the entire film. You could put American Dreamz in a film encyclopedia for a demonstration of what not to do if you want to write, direct or edit a film so that it is "tight".


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Yeah the cast didn't really blend in right. Good actors individually, just terrible everything else.

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I'm a huge fan of Mandy Moore. Probably the biggest reason why I saw it.
But I didn't like the movie. Why?
It made it seem like the entertainment world was hell. And perhaps it is, how would I know. But seriously, they just dragged it out.
Also, it just reminded me TOO much of American Idol and blah. When you compare American Dreamz to American Idol, AI wins. That's why, if you're going to make a spoof of something, at least do it to something crappy so you win.

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Believe it or not, there's a huge amount of people who cringe at the very idea of American Idol--it's mean, fake, and strives to manufacture pop stars out of people with a limited amount of talent. I've watched it twice. The first time out of curiousity, the second to make sure it was a bad as I thought it was the first time. I would rather dig my eyes out with a spork than ever watch it again. The send up of AI on American Dreamz is done even more brilliantly than how it was handled on Shrek II.

So my answer on why there is so much hatey directed toward American Dreamz is twofold. The first reason is that it takes a person with above average intelligence to appreciate satire. Sadly, that ability is lacking in the majority of the american public. Secondly, it appears that way too many people are so enamored of the AI process of artificially creating "talent" that they cannont recognize it as the pernicious drain on the real talent pool that it really is. To succeed on AI, it's not enough to be able to sing, you have to "look" a certain way, act a certain way and be a certain type. It's hilarious when you think about people like Tom Petty or Bob Dylan and how they would have fared on the program, but unfortunately in this sparkle and glitz Britney-wannabee world they would never have been given a chance. It's my wish that this phenomanon die a quick death, but I fear I'm doomed to be disappointed.

~sic transit gloria mundi~

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====================
The first reason is that it takes a person with above average intelligence to appreciate satire. Sadly, that ability is lacking in the majority of the american public.
====================

Yes, but that pretty much applies to the whole *world*: Only less than half the population can be of above average intelligence.


I bet you scored straight A's in statistics?

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Oh, you poor dear. I'm going to have to start introducing you to actual culture. Seriously. You're getting too old for Disney Channel, anyway.

American Idol = complete *beep*
They "won."

Now Trish, if a majority had "above average intelligence," that would skew the curve just a bit, no? Socialistic ideals are no fun when it comes to intelligence. I dereive great pleasure from my mental superiority ;]

Anyway, the fact of the matter is, most people really are quite narrowminded and/or dim. Of course most people will have hated this movie, because it makes fun of them. If they're delusional enough to think something like American Idol is worth watchng, they're not going to grasp the point that they are in the wrong. People don't like to be made fun of without knowing why. However, I think that's all the more reason to mock them mercilessly. People should be aware as possible, and not settle for force fed crap, bit it from the government or the media. Don't be manipulated. Simply, that's bad. Think for yourself. Whether you agree or not, seek out more information and then decide for yourself. Don't just hop on the bandwagon. The majority is always wrong, because (as the bell curve suggests), people are predominantly stupid, but they ought to at least accept that people can have opposing views without condemning them for being too far outside the mainstream. And also, in this movie's case, I think it makes sense to attack cliches with cliches.

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Well said joan. I couldn't have said it better myself.

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I absolutely loved this movie.
The songs were hilarious.
The ending was totally unpredictable.
The whole this made me laugh.
So whats the deal?
Some people hate its guts.

It was like a big, funny joke. Some people don't have a sense of humour.

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[deleted]

Hott LA gurl, you must be hott if you liked this movie.
I loved it too, glad someone liked the songs and got the joke. And the ending was good... unpredictable...but not too tragic...life goes on...
Omer and family were hilarious....funny but not cartoons...human underneath the humor....It was funny! I recommend this to everyone.

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I loved this movie, every second of it. I'm so confused as to why people hate it. I guess people don't know what a freakin' satire is.

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I can't tell you why everyone hated it (I actually didn't know they did), but I can tell you why I didn't like it. It was very poorly acted for the most part, and it was poorly written as well. The dialogue was hardly believable, and the whole movie seemed like it tried too hard to be edgy. I appreciate the points it's trying to make, but I think it could have made them in a more subtle and effective way.

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Hey justlikethat bird - I totally agree. I absolutely love satires, however, I thought this was trying way too hard - it was almost like they wanted it to be a satire, but didnt push the boundaries nearly far enough.

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I agree 100% with justlikethatbird.

I love satires when done correctly (Spinal Tap is one of my all time favorite movies). The problem with 'Dreamz' is that isn't a satire, it is simply some screenwriters shoving their points down our throats. For this type of movie to work, good writers spoof their characters just enough for the audience to make their own decisions. At first, it was pretty funny. After a while, I just wanted it to end, with some of the scenes just being down-right painful.

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Wasn't a waste to buy the DVD. Totally satirical and funny, great characters who are so alive. It's not honest, but it's honest.

And the "Dreamz with a Z" is still playing on my head.

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HANDS DOWN the worst movie I have seen in YEARS. No one (not an actor, not a screenwriter, not a costume designer and CERTAINLY the director) knew what the movie should have been about. It was such an utter mess of half ideas thrown together to desperately try and make a whole movie. I think Dennis Quaid crying as the "confused naive puppet president" in his office would have to be one of the low points of American cinema (and there has been some real low points). How this movie can be defended...I have no clue. I would rather watch Hugh go at it with the Miss Brown hooker than watch a second more of that pathetic vomit excuse of a movie.

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I love this movie!
Hugh Grant was awesome as a host
i thought it was perdictable about Sally and Tweedy but hey i love those kinds of movies
the ending was ruined for me cause someone told me but wow, wouldn't have thought it!
LOVED IT!

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