My Fellow Americans (1996)

Director:

Peter Segal

Writers (WGA):

E. Jack Kaplan (story) &
Richard Chapman (story) ...

Release Date:

20 December 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy

Tagline:

A comedy about life, liberty and the pursuit of two ex-presidents.

Plot:

Kramer and Douglas, two former presidents from opposite ends of the political spectrum, become reluctant...

Plot Keywords:

Coat | Illegal Immigrant | Sable | Gay Parade | Train

Cast

Jack Lemmon	...	President Russell P. Kramer
James Garner	...	President Matt Douglas
Dan Aykroyd	...	President William Haney
John Heard	...	Vice President Ted Matthews
Wilford Brimley	...	Joe Hollis
Lauren Bacall	...	Margaret Kramer
Sela Ward	...	Kaye Griffin
Everett McGill	...	Col. Paul Tanner
Bradley Whitford	...	Carl Witnaur
James Rebhorn	...	Charlie Reynolds
Esther Rolle	...	Rita
Conchata Ferrell	...	Woman Truck Driver
Jack Kehler	...	Wayne
Connie Ray	...	Genny
Tom Everett	...	NSA Agent Wilkerson

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for salty language and innuendo.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:S | Iceland:L | Netherlands:12 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Asheville, North Carolina, USA

Company:

Peters Entertainment

Trivia:

This was originally supposed to be a Walter Matthau/'Jack Lemmon' movie. with the role of Matt Douglas written for Matthau. However, due to illness, Matthau pulled out and was replaced by James Garner.

Goofs:

Continuity: The state of the windshield after crashing into the fast-food restaurant mascot.

Quotes:

Russell Kramer: When this is over, promise me we'll come back and look for my balls.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Get Smart (2008)

Soundtrack:

Don't Be That Way

Presidents Dumb and Dumber...

So many professional actors, so much sophomoric humor. You gotta love it.

"My Fellow Americans" features Jack Lemmon and James Garner as ex-presidents on the run when they discover a cover-up with the present Chief of Staff (Dan Aykroyd) in the middle.

This isn't a movie anyone's going to take seriously, and well they shouldn't. There are lots of moments here that will elicit a laugh or two, maybe three. And what plot there is whizzes by at such a fast pace that there's more time to concentrate on the guffaws.

Lemmon and Garner play their parts as you'd expect. That they go the dumb route is no surprise; in fact, it makes their presence here all the more entertaining. Aykroyd basically plays the heavy here, so there's no real chance for him to generate any laughs. A shame, since he's usually so good at that.

Then there's the fact that real gems like Bacall and Brimley and Ward are just given throw-away parts; it's good to see them, of course, but you'd figure they'd have more to do (especially Bacall!!).

Kudos, though, to John Heard as the dim-witted Vice President. Some of the biggest laughs in this movie (for me) came from him. His eulogy at the funeral scene early in the movie always makes me laugh out, as does his pithy observations such as "Hey, a hat!". Beats me why he isn't in more movies.

As I said, the laughs are there, and if you demand nothing more from a comedy than to laugh, you'll want to do your political duty and rent "My Fellow Americans" - the one movie that insults both parties equally.

Seven stars, plus one extra for putting up an excellent "fakade".