Too American?

Can you, perhaps, list some of the details that you thought were too American for you?

What's bad about a movie being American? Wahlberg has done movies that are much more American than this. There was not a single flag waving in this fun comedy.
Being a family flick, I thought that this is something a lot of audiences could relate to. Most Western Countries have high divorce rates and patchwork families these days.

I agree that I too was expecting Vin Diesel at the end, but John Cena was simply brilliant! Since he looks like a hulked up version of Wahlberg.

I saw it as a surprise sneak preview in a German theater (hasn't been released yet over here), and the entire audience shouted out "John Cena!!!" when he took the helmet off.
Having been in the WWE (as had Dwayne Johnson) he's pretty well known around the world.

Maybe it's just here then. I actually showed a photo of John Cena at work to some colleagues, but none of them could tell me who this is. A couple had seen this film and identified him as "that guy from the film".

As for the details of being "too American" - for instance all the building of a treehouse seems to be like a "must" in all kinds of kids movies, also the participation of parents in a huge amount of school-related tasks. The treehouse culture has at least not reached here (actually I think erecting such a structure is even illegal since it could pose threat to life) and the school is just a school, I personally never saw any kind of parent involvement in any activities, we have paid teachers and professionals for coaching and other stuff. The disappearance of the father would also not be taken lightly here, as such "dads" would be quickly hunted down for not supporting the kids with money, or if the guy would be somewhere else, then his assets and bank accounts would be frozen. Although the film did not specifically tell us that Dusty didn't support the family financially, it also didn't imply that he did.

Are you joking? Millions of people around the world are big Wwe fans and know who John cena is. How is that remotely even an American point?

SPOILERS!!



I had no idea who John Cena was (my son did), but it was obvious as soon as Karen's daughter yelled "Daddy!" and ran right past Dusty that he was just bigger, cooler, more aggressive, and was going to beat Dusty at his own small-minded game. I thought it was a great ending.

The last half-hour was the best part of the movie--still super-funny, but actually showing some moral growth on the part of a character who seemed unreachable. When Dusty started dancing, I laughed so long and hard that I completely embarrassed my poor son.

It doesn't need to, it's a comedy based in, guess where, the United States of America. Do you expect to be pandered to?

Are the French, Polish, and Swedish films I watch (and enjoy) too French, too Polish, and too Swedish?

I don't expect Guy Ritchie to force his entire British cast to speak American English, it would ruin the film.

Yes it was too American

This whole post seems insane to me! It's an American movie, of course it will be filled with American references.. but most of the western world has grown up watching American media, it's normal.

I don't know where you are from but it seems odd that you would find any of the references out of place. I am from the UK, and personally have never been interested in wrestling but I've heard John Cena's name many times, though I didn't know it was him in the film. But I still almost wet myself laughing at the scene because the actor's identity was not important for the joke.. the guy had as Wahlberg put it "legs for arms" - hilarious, it was just showing a guy even bigger and beefier than Wahlberg. How is that not internationally recognised?!
I would struggle to find a (mainstream) movie that doesn't contain easily hundreds of country specific references. I don't even know why I'm here explaining this, I just found it such an odd opinion I had to reply!
Peace out.