American Dreamz (2006)

The new season of "American Dreamz," the wildly popular television singing contest, has captured the country's attention, as the competition looks to be between a young Midwestern gal (Moore) and a showtunes-loving young man from Orange County (Golzari). Recently awakened President Staton (Quaid) even wants in on the craze, as he signs up for the potential explosive season finale.

Director:

Paul Weitz

Writer:

Paul Weitz

Stars:

Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Mandy Moore

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hugh Grant	...	Martin Tweed
Dennis Quaid	...	President Staton
Mandy Moore	...	Sally Kendoo
Willem Dafoe	...	Chief of Staff
Chris Klein	...	William Williams
Jennifer Coolidge	...	Martha Kendoo
Sam Golzari	...	Omer
Marcia Gay Harden	...	First Lady
Seth Meyers	...	Chet Krogl
John Cho	...	Ittles
Judy Greer	...	Accordo
Bernard White	...	Agha Babur
Tony Yalda	...	Iqbal Riza
Noureen DeWulf	...	Shazzy Riza
Shohreh Aghdashloo	...	Nazneen Riza

Storyline

Martin Tweed is the host of a talent show called American Dreamz, and whilst he despises each new season, it's a hit with the ratings. Tweed decides it's time for a new and interesting batch of contestants, and sends out his team to find the weirdest bunch possible. Whilst all this is happening, the President of the United States is becoming more and more depressed, and relies on his Chief of Staff to talk him through everything, even into appearing as a judge on the TV show. Perfect news for the terrorists who use the talent contest as a way to reach the President.

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Plot Keywords:

contest | chief of staff | competition | terrorist | television | 

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Taglines:

Everyone's gotta have....

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Genres:

Comedy | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language and some sexual references

Details

Official Sites:

UIP [fr] UIP [uk]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Mandarin

Release Date:

21 April 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Muriendo por un sueño

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles Center Studios - 450 S. Bixel Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$19,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$509,217 (Australia) (28 April 2006)

Gross:

£2,158,359 (UK) (12 May 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Depth of Field

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Writer/director Paul Weitz claims that he wrote the original draft of the American Dreamz script before he had ever watched an episode of American Idol.

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Goofs

The logo on Omer's jacket is backwards (film was reversed) when his cousin decides to become his coach.

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Quotes

Sally Kendoo: I think it's time we broke up. Your life is here,
[puts her hand low]
Sally Kendoo: my life is here
[makes a rocket-like motion blasting off]

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Connections

References Chorus Line (1985)

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Soundtracks

" (Girl) Let's Not Be Friends"
Written by Stephen Trask & Paul Weitz
Performed by Joshua Wade (as Joshua Wade)

User Reviews

Better Than They Say

"American Dreamz" is not the funniest or cleverest film ever made, but it isn't as bad as a lot of the other reviewers are saying. To be sure, it will offend anyone who is a fan of American Idol, President Bush, or Al Qaeda.

The jokes are cute but will not leave you rolling in the aisles. There are really good performances throughout, especially by Willem Dafoe. who I had never really seen in a comedic performance.

This film could have been more mean spirited, but they actually went out of their way to make all the characters empathetic. My favorite part is when the terrorist are looking forward to eating grapefruit sorbet.

It's a shame this film was not more popular in the theaters, because it has a lot going for it despite it's faults. Hopefully it will be more popular on DVD.