American Dreamz (2006)

“I just feel confused... about this country. There are so many nice people here, but it does so much harm in the world... So to what degree is this country culpable for its actions. Are Americans to blame for America?”

            I was a huge fan of American Idol. I was fourteen when the first season of American Idol aired and I only watched it because I knew about the British Pop Idol and I was obsessed with Will Young and Gareth Gates so I had to watch to see if they would be on it in any way. I watched Kelly Clarkson win American Idol from the beginning. I remember the night she won like it was yesterday. I have been a fan of Kelly Clarkson since the top thirty and freaked out when she won. I did watch the show after first season but I stopped after third season because everyone was trying to be Kelly Clarkson and the show just got terrible. I did not like any of the contestants I thought a lot of them were annoying.

            American Dreamz was made in 2006. By this time American Idol had been on for four years and it was already becoming a joke. So many other singing reality shows were imitating American Idol by 2006 they were just ripe for parodying. That is exactly what American Dreamz does and it makes Idol and all those other shows look truly terrible.

            Martin Tweed (Hugh Grant) is the host of an incredibly popular TV talent show American Dreamz. He hates the show but the ratings are great and he is getting a lot of money from it. For the new season Martin wants his assistants to go out and find a weird bunch of contestants to make it interesting for him and the audience.

            In the Middle East at a terrorist training camp is a young guy named Omar. Omar’s mother was killed by an American bomb in their backyard and since then has been training to kill Americans. After his training he puts on a record, an actual record, of Broadway show tunes and dances to them. He gets sent to stay with his super rich aunt and uncle in California to try to kill the president.

            The president has just been reelected and has not been seen in public for weeks. He is an incredibly dumb person who has never read the paper and finally decides to one day. The entire nation cannot understand why he has not been seen in weeks. His vice president is going crazy and seems to have been going crazy with the president’s dumbness.

            Martin’s assistants find a girl in the middle of nowhere Ohio named Sally Kendoo (Mandy Moore). She is the all American girl with blonde hair and very pretty and willing to do whatever it takes to win. Sally is very excited to be getting on the show. The only thing she feels is holding her back is her boyfriend William Williams (Chris Klein). William is a ridiculous doof who is obsessed with Sally. After she breaks up with him William joins the army. He is not in Iraq long when he gets grazed with a bullet in the arm and sent home. He mostly gets sent home because he is annoying and talk way too much. A music manager who has attached himself to Sally thinks it is great that William was in the army and plays him up for the audience that he is a wounded war vet.

            In Los Angeles, Omar’s family is extremely westernized. The family lives in a huge mansion and play it down like it is nothing and his two cousins are very spoiled. His male cousin has his own room where he sings and thinks he can become famous. The family leaves home for the day leaving Omar behind. Omar goes into his cousin’s karaoke room and starts singing some Broadway tunes. Martin’s two assistants are outside the house and hear Omar singing and pick him to come on the show.

            Fast forward to sometime in the movie later, Sally and Omar have made it to the final two. Sally has been going along with her manager’s idea to play up her relationship with William and they want to have him propose to her on TV during the finale. Three other terrorists from Omar’s training camp have come to America. They make a bomb that Omar is to use when the president comes on the show for the finale. Sally and Martin sleep together and William finds out. Omar does not want to blow up the president he has come to love America so he throws the bomb in the men’s bathroom trash. William finds the bomb in the trash and straps it onto himself and walks on stage. He only blows himself and Martin up.

            American Dreamz was really silly. I do like how it excellently parodied American Idol and all those other talent shows. I guess American Dreamz is worth watching once it is not too great or bad it is just weird and kind of funny. It is pretty much a great parody of not only talent shows but also America.