You've seen the show.  You know who you are.  You never miss an episode of American Idol.  Well, now there's American Dreamz with a "z."  At least that's what some of the contestants of the latest singing contest show sing in the new film from director Paul Weitz (American Pie, About A Boy).
While he may not be Ryan Seacrest, Hugh Grant (Two Weeks Notice, About A Boy) stars as the superficially despicable, yet charismatic, Martin Tweed—host of the number one rated television show in the United States, American Dreamz.  
After being dumped by his girlfriend, Martin becomes increasingly bored with the same types of singers that appear over and over again on his show.  He craves something fresh and demands that his talent scouts get both an Arab and a Jew to be contestants the upcoming season.
At a secret terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, Omer is the worst trainee and only dreams about singing.  While the terrorists have no plans to actually use him, they give him his papers to the States just to get rid of him.  There he settles in with his cousins in Orange County.  When the American Dreamz camera crew comes looking for one of his cousins, they find Omer singing and sign him on as a contestant.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Staton has just won his second term in office and has suddenly discovered that he can learn things his briefings don't tell him, by reading the newspapers. In fact he gets so caught up in reading that he shies away from public appearances as his approval ratings plummet to all-time lows.  To help him recover, his Chief of Staff gets him a spot as a guest judge on American Dreamz.
Upon learning that Omer could get to shake the President's hand if he makes it to the finals, the Afghan terrorists approach him and ask him to martyr himself by wearing a bomb when he goes to meet the president.  But where are Omer's true loyalties?
Out in the Midwest, Sally Kendoo has just learned she'll be a contestant on the show. Realizing she and her boyfriend are headed in separate directions emotionally, she breaks up with him.  Trying to win her back, he enlists in the army and is sent to Iraq, where he is shot in the arm on his first day.  Now with the human-interest story that could get her the championship on American Dreamz, how far will she go to deceive her boyfriend to win?
Okay, now that the complicated setup is out of the way, how does the movie measure up?  First of all, it seems hard to ignore the blatant political undertones in this movie.  This film may well risk alienating Republicans with its Bush-type president who did not had a single thought of his own during his entire first term in office, though over the course of the movie he tries to break away from that.
As you might have already guessed, it also makes light of the situations both in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The film even pokes fun at Canada when the Chief of Staff rhetorically asks the President, "Who cares about the Canadian Press outside of Canada?"  About the only current political controversy the movie doesn't bring up is President Bush's guest worker program.
Now I may have a slight Democratic bias, but that being said, I think that if Republicans are able to have a sense of humor about any shots made towards current politics, they should still enjoy the film.
Not that I'm saying this movie is any great work of art, but it is a fun flick made for fans of American Idol, while trying to cash in on that show's success.  Apart from the political undertones, the jokes manage to stay mostly clear of bathroom and sex humor.  Weitz also tries to slip in a few morals.
As for cast performances, Grant does quite a good job as a man struggling with wanting to care about people and the world but who doesn't want give up his uncaring nature because he's profited so well by it.
Dennis Quaid (The Rookie, Wyatt Earp) has the challenging task of playing President Staton; a president who honestly wants to do good but up until this point has been puppeteered by his chief of staff.
Sam Golzari (Closer, The Invisible Man) plays Omer, a character struggling to find his identity either as anti-American, since it was an American bomb that killed his mother or pro-American, since his mother loved American music and singing and taught him to love it as well. While his singing may not be the greatest, it almost works in the context of the film.
Mandy Moore (The Princess Diaries, Saved) also has quite the role to play as Sally Kendoo.  At times it is difficult to understand her motivation.  At times she seems just like a ditzy blonde, while at others she seems genuinely motivated by her character's conscience.  And oh yeah, she's got a great singing voice.
Willem Dafoe (Spiderman, The Aviator) has a fairly stereotypical role as the president's chief of staff.  Pity such a great actor wasn't able to bring more to this role and break it out of its predictable nature.
Chris Klein (American Pie, United States of Leland) also has a fairly stereotypical role as Sally's boyfriend.  Yet he still managed to bring a certain quality to it that allowed it to stand out.
Finally, Jennifer Coolidge (A Cinderella Story, Date Movie) played Sally's mom.  Again at times it was difficult to understand her character's motivation, but ultimately we see that she will do anything for her daughter.
Unless you're a diehard fan of American Idol, this movie may not be worth your box office dollars, but it certainly is worth a look at on DVD.

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