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An American Carol

Finally a comedy for conservatives making fun of liberals! No wonder it flopped in the box office.
I have been a fan of director/writer David Zucker for a long time. He can easily be described as the founder of the spoof comedy genre, his most famous being “Airplane” and “The Naked Gun.” The spoof genre is often imitated but never duplicated with Zucker’s insight of being stupid but smart at the same time. Unfortunately, the spoof comedy has become dirty, stupid (without the smart) and just not funny with the rise of “Scary Movie” and it’s sequels, “Not Another Teen Movie,” “Superhero Movie” and many others not even worth mentioning. With “An American Carol” David Zucker seem to go back to his roots and reinvent himself with this film. He breaks away from the tradition of spoofing a movie or a genre but he is spoofing a specific group of people…the liberal-left.
“An American Carol” opens with Leslie Nielsen (David Zucker’s muse) telling a story to children about the man who tried to abolish the fourth of July. This man, Michael Malone (an obvious character-spoof of Michael Moore), played by Kevin Farley (that’s right…Chris Farley’s brother) is an anti-American filmmaker who is visited by three spirits on the eve of his “Abolish the 4th” demonstration. He is visited by John F. Kennedy, General George S. Patton (played by Kelsey Grammer) and Trace Adkins (who better to embody the American spirit?). The jokes, in Zucker style, are stupid visually, but smart. The best example I can give is of the “ACLU Zombies” attacking the courts and General Patton and The Judge (played by Dennis Hopper) have to shoot them down with shotguns to protect the Ten Commandments. Then there is the “terrorist training video” which is so wrong yet so funny.
Like most Zucker films this is not family friendly. There is cussing in it, surprisingly not laced with it (only about 10 – 12 s***). There is no nudity but a couple of visual jokes of a man getting slapped for trying to grab a woman’s breasts. Although the film is making fun of liberals it is still not for the easily offended (it makes fun of a lot of other groups too). For a liberal-leftist this may be rated as one of the worst films ever; but since I am the exact opposite I found it one of the best. I may be bias because since I was a kid I have been a Zucker fan, even if most his films are not family-friendly. Please keep in mind, Zucker films are a “check-your-brain-at-the-door” type movie, so don’t expect an enlightening intellectual piece about capital hill.
It looses a star for not being family friendly but I give it four out of five and hope that it may convert some to the “right” side.
****

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MAMA MIA

I finally rented the “hit movie” based on the “smash Broadway musical” inspired by the phenomenal 70’s band ABBA. I guess you could say my expectations were a little high…and they did not get met. I was bored through out the film.
To give you a quick background on myself; I am a succer for musical theatre. I lived in New York City for six years. Saw a musical every chance I got. I enjoy most movie adaptations as well. I own DVD’s of “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” and several others. I like if not love musical theatre. So for me to say I was bored says a lot!
I’ve also been caught saying, often, “I didn’t like it, but I can understand why it was a hit.” I do NOT understand why MM is a hit. First off, I didn’t grow up in the 70’s. Therefore, I am not familiar with ABBA except for the handful of songs that are sung every night at a karaoke bar. Secondly, if you are going to make a movie musical it is important to cast actors who can sing. (Or at least replace their singing voice as they did in the golden era of MGM.) Pierce Brosnan, great actor, can’t sing to save his career. I guess the producers were shooting for handsome and forgot about all the other necessary attributes. Meryl Streep…ditto. And I’m still trying to figure out if they dressed her down or if Meryl Streep is really that “homey” looking.

Thirdly, I didn’t care for the story. It is an abomination towards the sanctity of marriage and family isn’t as important as who you are with at that moment. (This is what the world thinks?!) SPOILER: The happy ending is “I love you so much….so let’s NOT get married!” Huh, did I miss something? Happily ever after no longer ends with a life-long commitment. And to top it off, one of the characters comes “out of the closet” but it comes way out from left field. Why is it that the token gay guy is now a quota in every Hollywood film?

Finally, if you grew up on the music of ABBA and enjoy listening to those at a karaoke bar put their personal touch on “Dancing Queen” then perhaps you will enjoy this film. But don’t expect a fiber of moral resolution. It’s not there.

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