Views expressed in guest columns do not necessarily reflect the views of Accuracy in Media.
Visit the complete Guest Column archives.
Movie Review – ‘An American Carol’
Guest Column | By Pamela Meister | October 6, 2008
"Why should I celebrate a country that's caused oppression and terror all over the world?"
These are the words of Michael Malone, the fictitious director lampooned in An American Carol,
which opened up this past weekend, coming in (as of this writing)
seventh overall at the box office for the weekend. With a number of
big-name stars and some surprising cameo appearances, it's an enjoyable
afternoon or evening out at the movies geared toward pride in country
harbored by more Americans than one would think based on the usual
cinematic offerings from Tinseltown.
If you've seen Airplane! and the Naked Gun series, you know what kind of film you're in for - full of the
slapstick, corny jokes and foul-mouthed kids that comic film veteran
director David Zucker is well-known for. And if that kind of humor
isn't your cup of tea, you may want to pass this up. But bear in mind,
there's a lot more to An American Carol than first meets the eye. The movie borrows heavily from the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol,
but brings to it not only the patriotic flavor that has largely been
missing from Hollywood fare since the 1960s, but also straight talk
about the dangers posed by radical Islam that many Americans either
don't wish to face or believe are blown out of proportion by those
trying to sound the alarm - as if 9/11 wasn't alarm enough.
Michael
Malone, played brilliantly by Kevin Farley, is a fast talking, big
eating movie maker who has built his career on America-bashing movies
such as Die You American Pigs. (Remind you of anyone?) Yet
despite winning an Oscar and the Leni Riefenstahl award from
Moovealong.org for his work, Malone longs to create a feature film that
will bring him the real respect of Hollywood and the movie-going public
he craves. He has in mind a "powerful drama about oppressed people
adrift in a world gone mad. It's anti-everything America stands for
without technically being anti-American." But for some reason, Malone
is finding it difficult to get backers for his feature.
Enter
a group of bumbling Islamist terrorists led by Aziz, played by veteran
movie bad guy Robert Davi. Looking for someone to direct a more
convincing version of their suicide bomber recruiting video, Aziz and
his henchmen turn to Malone, offering him the money he needs to get his
feature film off the ground.
Meanwhile, Malone is planning an
"Abolish July 4th" rally. In the midst of his planning, his nephew
Josh, a Navy officer, is headed for the Persian Gulf. "Can't you get
out of it?" Malone wants to know. And so Malone continues on his merry
path of America-bashing until his hero, John F. Kennedy, speaks to him
à la Jacob Marley. Malone is then visited by three spirits: General
George S. Patton (Kelsey Grammer), George Washington (John Voight) and
the Angel of Death (country singer Trace Adkins). Between the three of
them, we see why Malone turns out to be a bitter, military-hating man,
how life would have turned out had Abraham Lincoln sat down and signed
an agreement with the South rather than fight the Civil War, and how
people will feel about Malone after his death (a rather large pair of
buttocks play a big part in this scene).
Amidst all of the
laugh-inducing moments - and there are many of them - there are a few
sober ones as well, such as the aftermath of 9/11 at Ground Zero. New York Post reviewer Lou Lumenick (who panned the film) called it "a spectacularly tasteless scene...which I don't think was
intentionally supposed to be funny." No, it wasn't supposed to be
funny. Nor was it tasteless. It was a sober and poignant reminder of
what happened on that day that, unfortunately, too many people have
relegated to the past and refuse to believe could ever happen again as
long as we, as Malone's character suggests, just sit down and talk with
the enemy and stop whatever it is we must be doing to aggravate al
Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
That's just one of several
points in the film that aren't meant to be funny, but touch on the
pride that many Americans feel about their country.
Zucker
manages to skewer many sacred cows of the Left, including higher
education (Columbia University in particular in an amusing musical
scene), the ACLU, the anti-war movement (a demonstration is described
by one character as "students showing how much they don't know by
repeating it loudly"), baby boomers and the 1960s, and gun control,
just to name a few. And he does it with the help of stars such as
Farley, Grammer, Voight, and Davi, along with James Woods, Dennis
Hopper, David Alan Grier and others who came out of the "conservative
closet" and even possibly put their careers in jeopardy in
Left-thinking Hollywood.
Acquaintances I met outside the
theater said they really appreciated the meaning contained in the film,
and that they wish there were more films with its positive message
about America. Preaching to the choir? Perhaps. But conservatives who
complain that there aren't enough films out there that cater to their
tastes should not complain if An American Carol doesn't do well because they couldn't be bothered to get out to see it.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Pamela Meister is a former radio broadcaster, a recovering liberal, a contributor to AmericanThinker.com and a blogger at http://blogmeisterusa.mu.nu
Guest columns do not necessarily reflect the views of Accuracy in Media or its staff.
5 Comments | Post a Comment
From what I have seen on trailers on TV, I am looking forward to seeing it. Didn’t see it over the weekend, but after the big cities around here see it, it will make it to our local theater.
“Why should I celebrate a country that’s caused oppression and terror all over the world?”
It’s NOT going to make its $$ back.
3.5M on opening weekend for a 20M budget movie?
It will be on home video in a couple weeks…
“W”‘s opening weekend was $10.5 million.
This turd has only done about $6 million.
Coming soon to a rental location near you!
October 6 at 12:57 pm | #1 | Link
My 13 year old grandson and I saw the film over the weekend and enjoyed it thoroughly. He laughed more than I. (his parents are Dems)
I cringed a bit when the Rosie O’Connell part came on showing a parody of Christians acting like terrorists (to prove her point), but other than that, it was a good movie experience. The foul mouthed kids? I didn’t think it went over the top, but some might be offended by it. Rated PG-13.