An American Carol (2008) User Reviews

Very, very odd...

[Elvine · 5/10 · 30 October 2009]

Is this supposed to make fun of liberals or republicans? When a few of us sat down to watch it we honestly couldn't agree. We then resorted to what Google had to say on the subject, and apparently the director and the lead actors are all republicans wanting to make a statement. But we still couldn't agree - some of us claimed they had to have been fooled by the writers.

The two biggest laughs from us was when Little Timmy hadn't had his leg fixed because Bad Uncle Michael wouldn't pay for it (yeah, socialized medicine is only for commies, we yanks think every child should have the liberty to stay crippled if they fail to choose the right parents) and when Frasier asked whether the "thou shalt not kill" had been shot away from the wall in the court room and proceeding with "never mind, I'll just fire away" (Who are pro-capital punishment again? That's right, right-wing Christians!)

And those were just the most glaring anti-republican jokes. Mostly, the script was more subtle, with the anti-liberal jokes, the racism and the homophobia so clumsily presented they were, in our opinion, most likely meant to make fun of republican propaganda.

Are we overestimating both the filmmakers and their intended audience? Or have we truly understood the deeper meaning of An American Carol? I'm so confused, I don't know whether to grade it one or ten. I'll have to go with five.

Funny - No, Intelligent - No, Worth Viewing – Probably Not

[nYr10 · 3/10 · 2 January 2013]

Michael Malone (Kevin Farley) is an American documentary maker out to abolish Fourth of July celebrations, perceiving it as the ultimate representation of what is wrong in America. However, he is visited by three ghosts who intend to change the way he views his country.

Firstly, David Zucker appears to have fallen a long way since the heights of Airplane and Police Squad – although too many Scary Movie sequels and "spoof" movies on the resume show the path to these new depths of garbage. Unfortunately, we live in a world where bowing to the lowest common denominator in taste and quality still makes money.

As somebody outside of the USA, perhaps this is not a movie targeted at me but it feels like the worst kind of low brow comedy, which takes easy and cheap shots at "anti-American" film-makers. Although the target is clear (Kevin Farley's characterisation is in no doubt), if questioning the way things work automatically marks you as an anarchist (or "anti- American", in this case) then what is a democracy? I may not always agree with your point but would not deny you the right to say it. "Freedom of Speech" still exists, right?

Leslie Neilson appears as a grandfather, telling the story we see play out. Although always good to see Neilson, he has little to do in this movie besides one "action" scene. Trace Adkins appears as both The Angel of Death and himself. As himself, he is apparently the ultimate representation of America and what it means to be a true American. The role is fairly small, which is probably best, as even if you enjoy his musical output, I'm not sure feature films are his future. Kelsey Grammar as General Patton has an overly long yet mildly amusing role but is ultimately wasted in it. His feature film output will not garner awards – Down Periscope any one? – but he may be the highlight in an otherwise dull production with few redeeming features.

Bad acting, cheap shots at those willing to question the norm and "jokes" that will make many wince – we should be allowed to charge the film-makers for our time spent watching this rubbish.

Overall, if you are a fan of the spoof movies of recent years, give this a try. If you are a Michael Moore hater, give this a try. If you don't fall in to either of those camps, don't waste your time or money.

Brainless Parody with Terrible Conclusion

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 24 May 2014]

On the July 4th, a group of children listens to the story of the documentary filmmaker Michael Malone (Kevin P. Farley) told by their grandfather (Leslie Nielsen) at a family barbecue. Michael wants to abolish the July 4th and does not celebrate the date and refuses to visit his family. Three clumsy Afghan terrorists consider that Michael Malone hates the United States of America and posing of producers, they invite him to make a feature with the intention of helping them to recruit new terrorists. During the night, Michael is visited by JFK that advises that he will be visited by three spirits. Soon General Patton, George Washington and the Angel of Death visit him trying to show him what would happen to the United States if pacifism prevails over war.

"An American Carol" is a parody of "A Christmas Carol" where a Michael Malone is a parody of Michael Moore in the role of the Scrooge. There are funny, but also moronic gags and after a promising beginning, the plot concludes with a terrible boastful nationalism that spoils the plot and the character. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Corra que Tem Loucos por Aí!" ("Run Since There Are Madmen Around")

More of a parody of the conservative movement

[grayner-2 · 1/10 · 17 October 2008]

As I read the reviews here of the film, I see many comments of the type "I think like that..." which is further evidence of certain aspects of the hard-right mindset than it is about problems with liberals. One can debate about whether something is "funny" or not, I found this film funny for about 5 minutes, the rest was boring and some of it downright offensive. First, as full disclosure, I am a liberal but am NOT a fan of Michael Moore. I agree with much of what he has to say but I think he loses the power of some of his arguments by being overly provocative I also find him unpleasant as a personality. But when we look at this film, we see the basic problems of the conservative mindset, everything is a caricature, everything is so simple good guys vs. bad guys. One could argue that these could be a caricature of the movement itself, but from the reactions here, it would seem that those who liked the movie see it as "socking it to those liberals..."

First let's look at the basic premise of the movie: Mike Malone wants the 4th of July Holiday banned because he, in his heart of hearts, hates America. Um, again, I don't particularly like Moore, but should a caricature not have some remote basis in fact? Watch Sicko, watch Fahrenheit 911, watch Roger and Me. Where exactly is a hatred for America and patriotism? Exactly in which scene does this occur? What does he say to suggest this? In fact, this is the typical reductio ad absurdum strawman that conservatives love to build - so-in-so is bad! He is fat! He hates America, he loves terrorists. Don't listen to him or respect him. Take Moore's last film, Sicko. Moore discusses the millions of Americans who are not give adequate help by the health care system. He touches on cases of people who have none. He compares and contrasts France and Cuba. Now instead of having a substantive discussion, where conservatives say 1) I disagree with Moore BECAUSE.. 2) Moore's point on X is wrong BECAUSE... 3) The facts he presents on health care in Cuba are not true BECAUSE... instead we can engage in these childish stereotypes and name calling INSTEAD of addressing the fact that 46 million people, including children, have no health care in the US. Yeah, let's laugh at the fat man who hates America..it's easier than addressing the issue at hand, some people are literally dying because they got laid off or because their insurance company won't cover them. Thus, the whole premise of the film is so flimsy and ridiculous. To the conservative mind, saying it is bad that millions of hard-working Americans have no health care means you hate America. Objecting to a disastrous military policy in Iraq means you hate America.

And the stereotypes abound from there. Michael Malone is taken through history a la Christmas Carol and shown that it is wrong to hate America...One of my favorite examples is how he is shown by the example of the Civil War that not all war is bad. Now let's dissect this a bit: stereotype: all liberals are against all war no matter what. As stupid as the stereotype that conservatives want war all the time. Fact is, this is not true, many liberals SUPPORTED the war in Afghanistan because the Taliban was housing bin Laden, who was directly associated with the murder of our citizens. But just because you object to the Iraq war, you are against every war in all cases. Yeah, right. The civil war...let's think for a nano-second about that: that war was fought by people opposed to slavery in the Northern States against the conservative South. I won't go into the complex argument here about what each party Republican and others were very different then but I will point of that those "red" states that went Bush in 2004 almost exactly matched the "slave states" during the Civil War. Sure, we are supposed to believe that those very conservative states where they sill want to fly the confederate flag today were the ones who were anti-slavery? Yeah, sure.

And then of course, we have the portrayals of Muslims and Mexicans in the film. To the conservative mindset, all Muslims, be they from Morocco to Iran to Afghanistan to Indonesia, to Sudan, to America and Europe and Turkey are all the same...they all dress the same, all talk the same...all are potential terrorists who hate America.

And everything else is a silly stereotype too. Rosie O'Donnell is a fat lesbian with strong opinions. So therefore, she should be laughed at and ridiculed, not worthy of having an opinion.

And for those who say, "It's a comedy, lighten up"... um, I just found it not funny, from scenes at Ground Zero (real classy) to cheap physical humor (look at that fat pig Moore eat all in sight...) it is light on the humor and heavy on the conservative fantasy

And for those eager to say it is like Airplane, um, no. Airplane was funny because it was completely absurd. There were silly jokes, many groups were parodied in a gentle way. Here it is all about building the strawmen and then trying to build a parody around that. Kind of like making a "liberal" film where George Bush is out on some hunting range, shooting down Muslims for sport....Conservatives would not find that amusing and it would be as absurd as the "Michael Moore hates all of America" premise..

And for those ready to proclaim "typical liberal response", you should know I expect to also pan Oliver Stone's film "W" when it comes out. Although I loathe Bush, it is also a series of silly stereotypes which does not bring the dialogue forward...

every emotion will be tested

[Worldofgrim · 3 October 2008]

i laughed, i cringed, i smirked, i got mad, really mad, i felt, i almost cried, definitely choked, this was a good film. and so much of it i hated, because it was true. and you all know what i mean.

i am conservative in Hollywood, my friends treat me exactly like this movie. i do feel alone, a lot.

was it entertaining? well, in very few movies do i laugh out loud, and this is one of them. it was so much fun to laugh, yet as the movie went on the burden of truths took their toll on me. thank goodness for the zombie reprieve in the 3rd act, that helped! it will actually take me a few days to recover from the emotions i have, but knowing Zucker and others are out there, in Hollywood, and for them and the companies involved, the actors, and crew, to make this film, is a great thing indeed.

on so many levels, this film did a lot, acting, jokes, sets, story, message, lines, i actually think this should be an option in university & high school viewing! you know, students can choose Inconvenient Truth, any Michael Moore film, or American Carol. After all, we believe in choice.

A great film.

What's next for Zucker? Pro Nixon, Pro McCarthyism movie?

[Slug-3 · 1/10 · 10 December 2009]

I loved Airplane! I think it's a staple on the American comedy scene. In fact, I love several of David Zucker's movies, but he seems to have lost his understanding of the American psyche in his last few attempts. An American Carol, for instance, could just as well have been a pro-Nixon movie, released soon after Watergate. I'm sure there will be a few who will find Zucker's portrayal of Michael Moore funny and they would likely find a Zucker portrayal of Martha Mitchell to be humorous, as well. The irony comes in Zucker's failure to realize that most people side with Michael Moore on his opinions, as well as the facts that support his opinions, which Zucker pokes fun at by treating them as if they were untrue.

As a Liberal, I didn't expect to agree with Zucker's political views, and yet, I felt compelled to watch it and give it a fair shake, believing that my difference in politics might not prevent me from finding it funny. Unfortunately, An American Carol ended up being as disconnected from reality as I'd feared beforehand and I can't help wondering what Hollywood genius figured it would be a good idea to make fun of a controversial American political icon, just as the vast majority of Americans were figuring out that his serious accusations were justified. If Zucker were around for the Boston Tea Party, he most surely would have had a blast ridiculing Samuel Adams, and those throwing tea overboard, and I'm sure he wouldn't have spared American revolutionaries for wanting independence, either, because Zucker seems all about protecting the establishment, no matter who it is and what faults it may have.

I may sound motivated by politics, but that's really not the impetus for my harsh review at all. We've all seen funny political humor that was driven by views that we didn't share, but this is different because Zucker is trying to force humor that just isn't there. Michael Moore offers a plethora of opportunities for humor, but there is nothing funny about portraying people as wrong, when in fact, they were right. And if I am wrong on this, then I have a great idea for a satire about Abraham Lincoln foolishly trying to end slavery, which I'm certain will have it's fans as well.

I hate America...

[mrannouncer · 1/10 · 6 October 2008]

...apparently. That was what this movie was telling me. But rather than degenerating into the usual argument of left wing vs. right wing politics -- I'm much more interested in addressing the distressingly high rate of prejudiced, bigoted and downright hateful moments in the film...

The first five minutes of the movie (portraying terrorists in Afghanistan) contain a joke that the terrorists are all, apparently, named Muhammed Hussien. Now, I'm not expecting the screenwriters of this flick to have done any research, but this is both completely inaccurate to the sects of Islam in Afghanistan and reductive and lame (The Terrorists are all EXACTLY the same, therefore, easy to hate. Why look at them as human beings at all?) Moments later we are treated to a racist depiction of Mexican immigrants; seen as cheap labor for the terrorists (because, honestly, Mexico MUST have a worse economy than Afghanistan). Joke or not, this is literally the last time anyone who is not white will have a speaking role in the movie, until we meet the slaves (more on that later).

There are no women in major roles in the film, apart from the exceedingly small role of Michael's assistant. Otherwise they are either sex objects for leering; screeching menstruating witches; or butch, angry lesbians. (Sometimes a mix of those.) A conservative female in my viewing group was so put off by the bigoted depiction of women that she spent half an hour muttering to herself and not watching the screen.

Most egregiously, this film is openly hostile to any religion that is not Christianity (and, I'm guessing, Evangelical Christianity, at that). Islam is, of course, shown as being simply the religion of terrorists and no one else. Judaism is given a backhand slap in a scene where Mike is shown the future if we had not fought the Civil War: he, ludicrously, lives in the South and owns slaves. At one point, they begin to serenade him with "Hava Negila." Everyone in my viewing group threw up their hands at this blatant anti-Semitism. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but Michael Moore is Catholic, right? And also, if there were a South that was its own country, I'm expected to believe a LIBERAL would be living there and owning slaves, in direct counter to his beliefs? Nice try, movie... But that still doesn't distract me from wondering why you hate Jews.) Later, American soldiers are shown having a Christian prayer meeting just before going off to fight the good fight -- which is a pretty direct insult to all our brave fighting men and women who do not ascribe to that particular belief system. My best friend, who signed up for the Army days after 9/11, was really ticked off at the flick by this point. And nobody appreciated the slapstick humor set at the site of Ground Zero. Not cool.

I don't mean to be reductive, but this kind of film reflects the low level of public discourse in our country. Suddenly, belonging to a political party has become some kind of moral imperative and some people now act like they are allowed to treat those who do not ascribe to their views with outright hatred -- no more giving those they disagree with the respect they once enjoyed as fellow Americans to state their beliefs and live alongside them. Bob Hope snuck jokes at the expense of Democrats into his movies, but always with the good humor that goes with knowing we are all citizens who love our Constitution and the freedoms we are all entitled to; no matter how we differ on fiscal or social policies. If you are a conservative, I would hope that you have the intelligence and decency to look past the superficial preaching to the choir in this movie to see the irrational hate below; and shun it. And if you cannot do so or, heaven forbid, support the bigotry expressed in this film; I would counsel YOU to either start loving this country and our freedoms, or leave it.

P.S. As a personal note, if somebody who reads this who knows David Zucker, please tell him that if he's going to trash on documentary movies as "not being real movies" over 20 times throughout his flick, he might want to make a movie that looks like it cost more than a hundred bucks. My girlfriend makes documentaries -- you can suck it, David Zucker.

You don't watch this movie - you survive it.

[Quinoa1984 · 1/10 · 30 December 2009]

There's a scene in An American Carol - a true travesty of dead jokes and slapstick - where the character Michael Moor.. sorry, Michael "Malone", must make that distinction, is at an awards ceremony where one of his anti-American films is up for an award. What award is that? It's the Leni Riefenstahl documentary film award, due to (and just in case the audience this is intended for, conservative dumb-asses, don't know who she is) her film-making on the Third Reich in Nazi Germany. And, surprise surprise, he gets the award. Say what you will about Riefenstahl (and believe me, many have said a lot), she was a filmmaker who could bring a strong point of view with riveting technique via propaganda. Michael Moore, too, has a similar grasp of how to use propaganda in his documentary films (and I say this as someone who likes his films) to get a reaction, and he does it (whether you agree with what he says or not) very well.

I say all of this because David Zucker at this point in his career wishes he had a shred of the talent of either Moore or Riefenstahl at telling a story, keeping a thinking audience in check, doing SOMETHING that shows he can at least do a propaganda piece like An American Carol with some efficiency, some decent competency. He has none. One might feel sorry for him going down a Conservative path, but he's been going down a path of making lessor films for a while in the aughts. And now with An American Carol, he's made a film that is inconceivable to think was from a director responsible for The Naked Gun, a movie that was, first and foremost, FUNNY.

I mention liking Michael Moore's films for a reason, since some people out there (and you know who you are reading this) look at someone appreciating his movies as someone with blinders on, or not aware at what Moore is really doing, that he's "un-American", and so on. In the case of An American Carol, it's a satire or parody or whatever on Moore and the culture of America at the present. Fine. Make something that sticks comedically. Team America did this with a similar tasteless zeal for violence and pro-military outrageous strokes, even with an actually funny (not laugh out loud but amusing) parody of Moore as a puppet. Hell, even Uwe Boll with his underrated movie Postal took on the war on terror with true tastelessness. An American Carol can't pony up any goods satirically, because it can't see itself for what it is, or what its obvious biased position is.

Not one joke in the movie works in execution and timing, and the slapstick is painful to endure, including lots of slapping and ill-timed pratfalls of Michael Malone. Another thing is the lack of talent with Kevin Farley, the brother of Chris. Nothing he does works, but perhaps it's all of a piece of a streak of unfunny: Kelsey Grammar does nothing with his Patton; the terrorist characters are barely there on screen to do anything worthwhile. And on top of Zucker losing any gifts he had doing crude and crass comedy, there's not even any consistency with the attacks done throughout. For example, there's jabs at liberals in New York, and then later it champions itself as a defender of 9/11 victims. Does Zucker realize most of the people killed in 9/11 were "those" New Yorkers?

Ultimately, the movie is a fiasco. If a joke isn't groan-inducing, it's just completely flat. I'm reminded of many reactions critics have at the bottom-of-the-barrel parody flicks (Meet the Spartans and Disaster Movie), but at least those (and don't take this as a defense of those movies exactly) they are crass and stupid and lame jokes on movies. An American Carol is a precisely mean Conservative look at its subject, and it never looks at its own audience as shown in the film (country music luvin' rednecks, Bill O'Reilly) as possibly worthy of parody. If nothing else, this failure of comedy movie-making is at least quite telling of how little Zucker in his political leanings has to really aim at at his opponents. When you have Bill (insert bleep here) O'Reilly lecturing a Michael Moore clone about having ethics in what he does, you know there's something fishy going on.

Team America- hell, even Michael Moore (re: Capitalism a Love Story)- know that taking ones-self too seriously is certain death. An American Carol, posing itself as a serious screed against the liberal agenda in the guise of slapstick, is a slow slog through death in cinema, and it has nothing to do with the extremely loose Dickens connection. It's one of the most fascinatingly unwatchable products of American disingenuous perspective ever made.

I was looking for an intelligent satire... instead I got "An American Carol"

[filmaker2002 · 1/10 · 30 March 2010]

Because of the controversial subject of this film, I will start off by saying that I am not a liberal. I am a constitutional conservative and also an Iraq War veteran. That being said, "An American Carol is an absolutely horrible film. Besides the type of low-brow, kindergarten humor that it shares with such films as "Scary Movie", "Meet the Spartans", "Date Movie", and every other modern spoof, "An American Carol" also fails in its attempt to rebut left-wing rhetoric.

I read one user review that said "if you're a Republican you will find this funny." Republicans should find this comment very offensive, as it suggests that a film filled with ignorant and inaccurate information would appeal to them. Any educated Republican should avoid this film, because what it implies about them is almost as bad as the filmmakers are trying to say about the left.

The film presents poorly thought out arguments to debunk supposed left-wing myths. An example of this is when the character of Michael Malone comments that President Kennedy would never have gone to Vietnam. In the scene, Kennedy appears before him and suggests that he would have indeed gone to Vietnam, and as evidence the film quotes a line from his Innaugural Address where he mentions that America will "pay any price, bear any burden". The speech itself makes no mention of the on-coming war in Vietnam, and to use this quote as evidence for his position on that war is laughable. Although Kennedy alludes to being willing to fight a necessary war, there is no evidence to suggest that he would have fought the war in question.

Another example is when Bill O'Reilly and Rosie O'Connel are arguing about the terrorist threat. One of the arguments made by Rosie, which is a common argument made by many liberals, is that Christian terrorism is as big a threat as Islamic terrorism. Any student of international and domestic terrorism will tell you that this is simply not true. And a good way to refute that claim is to show the number of terrorist attacks and subsequent death tolls from both Christian extremist and Islamic extremist and compare them. The numbers will clearly show that in the present time Islamic extremists have engaged in far more destructive acts that Christian extremists. However, that is a point that the filmmakers failed to address. Rather than approach the topic intelligently and in a manner that would educate the ignorant, the film dismisses the argument and responds by pointing out the Christian terrorists don't commit their crimes with the same modus operandi that Islamic terrorists do, and the film attempts to make its point in very juvenile fashion.

The film carries on like this for its entire run time. Its extremely disappointing that a film that is supposed to represent the opinions of the right comes across as a Larry the Cable Guy skit. Any one looking for an intelligent argument about right versus left politics should simply avoid this film. I recommend reading "The Revolution" by Ron Paul instead.

Better Than I'd Expected

[ann-88 · 7/10 · 3 October 2008]

I saw this at the AFR Film Festival in DC this evening. I wasn't expecting much having read a lukewarm online review from someone who saw it when it was screened at the Republican Convention. I was, however, very pleasantly surprised. I doubt this modern day conservative retelling of Dickens' A Christmas Carol will ever find an audience, as it will be ignored/roundly dismissed by the MSM critics, but it is a solidly funny satire and delivered more than its share of laughs (at the expense of Michael Moore, the ACLU, Fidel's Cuba, today's college professors, Rosie O'Donnell, Jimmy Carter, and anyone who frets about the treatment of those incarcerated at Gitmo.) As the "Michael Malone"/Michael Moore character, Kevin Farley not only looks the part but gives a credible and easy-to-watch performance. He actually makes the character likable, even when he's saying or doing something obnoxious. The characterization could have been much "meaner" but Farley walks the fine line between hard edge satire and keeping Malone open to his big screen redemption.

The film even had moments that were unexpectedly moving, especially the segment when Mr. Malone receives some somber "feedback" from the father of his country and when Malone sees "ghosts" in the audience at the end-of-the-film Trace Adkins concert.

Favorite bits: the trailer of Rosie's Radical Christianity documentary and the chorus of college profs singing about the glories of 1968.

If you're an unreconstructed conservative you're going to love this film. Left of center libs (the five or six who actually go to the movie) will walk out of it after about five minutes sputtering obscenities. You'll have to judge whether or not you want to spend your time and money depending upon where you fall between those two extremes.

Dissapointing to say the least

[a-m-kuhne · 2/10 · 19 June 2018]

In general, I find myself enjoying a lot of comedy movies that were critically panned (BASEketball, Freddy Got Fingered, The Greasy Strangler) and I guess you could say I'm a fan of Zucker. This does not mean that I had incredibly high hopes for this movie, but I was just hoping for a solid comedy that takes a piss on politics. The first 10 minutes were pretty good, with an incredibly funny scene where Moore is shooting a scene in Cuba where everything is obviously really bad, which he is completely oblivious to (or repressing it) describing it as a socialist paradise. However, after the opening the movie slowly started to lose me, to the point where during the last 20 minutes i sank lower and lower from my bed until I laid down on the floor. I'm from Denmark, and of course I carry some personal opinions about American politics, which most people outside America do in 2018 because of social media. But this movie is pretty damn ham-fisted with its messages. One thing is that it only shows how stupid democrats can be. That would be totally fine with me if: 1) It was clever and funny. The "left" in this movie is so obnoxious. Watching this you keep asking yourself "do people really believe that leftists acts this way?" It should have either made clever critiques at their ideology or it should have went completely funny. Instead we get a pathetic "parody" (we see the same thing with leftists making fun of right-wings) that is so out of touch with reality and just frustrates you instead of making you laugh. 2) If it wasn't so serious. If the movie just tried to be funny and absurd that would be perfect. But there are so many obvious tries at making a point or to make you feel some kind of spark of nationalism (again, I'm not from America, but I seriously don't think that many people would feel that spark by watching this movie) that it kind of ruins a lot of the "background" jokes that Zucker is so wellknown for. His style and jokes really do not fit with the way this movie is written. Instead they just feel obligatory to remind you that the movie is in fact a comedy. Still, these signature jokes are the only thing that saves this movie from being the worst thing ever and they did manage to make me laugh a couple of times. The political jokes are just plain bad.

Aside from these problems the movie also suffers from bad acting, especially the lead. Farley is so incredibly annoying as Moore, but not in a good way and none of the other characters bring anything to the table. This doesn't seem like a fault of the actors but more that they didn't have anything to work with.

The script is also very confusing. It could have been the fact that I just lost focus because I was so bored but I got more and more bewildered throughout the movie. The movie is of course a retelling of A Christmas Carol, but it constantly shifts between reality, dreams, past and future. I haven't read the source material so I wouldn't know to what the degree that story does the same, but in this movie I never knew what was happening. The story suddenly started to move incredibly fast, which made a lot of the scenes where Moore is confronted with what would happen if America followed his ways incredibly confusing. I had no idea what lesson he was learing or why. This could be because of the movies short running time, but I'm not sure I wished it was longer.

My final problem with this movie is the message it is trying to portray. Again, if the movie went completely nuts like Team America that would be great and the jokes would land. But it doesn't. Which means you can't stop thinking about the message. I don't mind a patriotic movie, but this one is so bad at it. Do you believe that the wars in Middle Eastern countries are justified? Fine. But don't act like it isn't at least a somewhat complicated issue. This movie completely writes off anyone against war, and acts like the war against Nazi Germany is the exact same as the wars in Middle Eastern countries. There is so much more to delve into with instances like these but that would make this review even longer. Whatever you may believe you need to argue for it in a logical way and this movie doesn't do that at all.

I'm kind of sad seeing that this is the last of Zucker's movies and spoof movies in general seem to have died out. This movie had some potential but it squandered it with a poor message and confusing plot which in turn ruined a lot the jokes.

I thought it was funny

[GMP1 · 8/10 · 6 October 2008]

Okay, before anyone levels accusations, I have seen the movie and I'm writing this on behalf of myself, not some organization on either side of the political spectrum. Now, that said, here's my opinion...

Is this the funniest movie ever made? No, it's not. Is it your civic duty to see or avoid this movie at all costs? No, it isn't.

I will say, though, that I thought the movie was very funny. In some parts (like the "documentary" about "radical Christian terrorists"), it's both funny and sharply satirical. And, in other parts (like Malone getting constantly knocked around), it's more garden variety slapstick comedy. Either way, I laughed and so did the other people in the audience. And, as noted, there are a couple of scenes that actually try, and do, provoke some thought, mainly the scene at St. Paul's. Finally, when you get right down to it, Malone (the pseudo Michael Moore) doesn't come across as all that awful a guy, even if he is a self-absorbed jerk.

I know that this movie has inspired a considerable amount of controversy and has resulted in heated exchanges. All I'll say, though, is that I thought it was OK and I enjoyed it. And if it does inspire some kind of dialogue about conservatism (or the lack thereof) in Hollywood, so be it.

I will admit, though, it was nice to see a movie that at least tries to show the U.S.A. in a favorable light. That's become somewhat rare.

I Gave it a Chance; Don't Be So Serious

[pfreese · 7/10 · 3 October 2008]

Keep in mind folks, this is just a comedy but it does contain enough messages to anger any ultra-liberal. It won't hurt anyone to watch this movie and even the far left liberals should get a good laugh. You have to admit after watching it that it's a harmless movie and is in good spirit. Those that are left leaning, head this warning, it will bring to light some painfully harsh realities of the problems our American culture is facing within our own borders and how ridiculous some of those ultra left leaning (progressives) are. If you are open minded, do not care about politics and would like to experience the Zucker style of humor, go see it. You'll get to see an angle of things that hasn't come from Hollywood in recent years.

An American Carol

[ActOne · 1/10 · 4 October 2008]

I can't say that my politics are very conservative (except in making government smaller), but this film makes "Baby Geniuses" seems like "Citizen Kane."

I can appreciate a well-made film regardless of its agenda. "Patton" and "Dirty Harry" are great, quality films with a Conservative bent. "An American Carol" is not.

This movie is not quality film-making. The writing, as Shakespeare wrote, "is a tale told by an idiot: full of sound and fury and signifying nothing." And NOT funny.

The acting - (Dennis Hopper, go watch your early work and strive for half of that artistry) - is painful. They say, "drama is hard, but comedy is harder." In this case, Kevin Farley (the Frank Stallone of the comedy world) must think drama is impossible.

As to the dual credits of direction/writing, David Zucker has completely lost it. I loved his earlier work, but he hasn't worked on an artistically successful film in over ten years, and it shows. Sort of like Dennis Hopper.

Score one for the good guys

[hartbraswell · 16 January 2009]

A funny spoof on all anti-American movies that seem to spew from Hollywood like fire ants through the Texas prairie. Far from being all about Michael Moore, as liberals profess, this movie takes dead-on shots at general liberal/anti-U.S. propaganda that is taken as truth by the mainstream media and gullible Americans. The director is not afraid to give credit to Lincoln for going to war to fight slavery, when the Democrat Party of that day was willing to let the South have its way, just to avoid a war. I had to laugh when Malone and the Rosie O'Donnell character put up that radical Christian video as evidence that America deserved 9/11. If you know history as it happened, you will like this movie. If you know history as told by Hollywood, you will understand nothing. Good job Zucker, and now I want to see the Ben Stein movie that was in the previews.

Aren't comedies supposed to be, you know, funny?

[Anachroeden · 1/10 · 11 October 2008]

Some slapstick, mostly the kind of stuff you laughed at when Tom & Jerry did it thirty or forty years ago. Script-wise, it makes 'Goodburger' seem like comic genius. If you loathe Michael Moore, you'll probably find it hysterical. If you watch any network but FOX News, you'll possibly get a chuckle. But if you're just looking to throw away $9, go buy nine scratch-cards and save yourself the hour and half of your life.

I thought it was going to be good farce, going in. I'm no fan of Michael Moore, but it takes some particularly vile cowardice to claim that anyone "hates America" because of their political views. Neither Barack Obama nor John McCain hate America. Joe Biden might accidentally call it the wrong name and Sarah Palin can't locate it on an unmarked world map, but they don't hate it. If the producers were seeking to attract the attention of independent moderates in the election season, they needed to put more work into the humor and less into making their already-fanatical base bark and clap like seals.

Don't believe the Astroturf reviews...

[kalmoth · 1/10 · 4 October 2008]

posted here before the movie even hit the theaters. And, while one honestly might have wanted to give this movie the benefit of the doubt - what passes these days for the American Left sure is good for a few laughs? - it does not deserve this benefit. American Carols FAILS from the start - you cannot base political satire on a LIE. Satire is about exposing some inner truth. And this movie is a lie starting from its original premise, not to mention deeply, profoundly un-American.

The corpse of Charles Dickens is definitely rolling in the grave. It is well-known (except probably to David Zucker) that Dickens literally dedicated his life to exposing the evils of unregulated free-market capitalism in its Victorian incarnation. His books were a fiery sermon against Mammon, the only god in who the modern US "conservatives" trust. Thus basing a "conservative" (my apologies to real conservatives who believe in minding your own business and holding your government accountable) screed on a famous anti-greed and very Christian (in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount, that is) story by Dickens is a LIE.

Another lie... The lesser (in more senses than one) Farley brother is playing Michael Moore... except it ain't Michael Moore. Farley's character's movies are flops... and guess who's laughing all the way to the bank in the real world? My prediction is... the box office of "American Carol" will be way below quite a few of Moore's DOCUMENTARIES.

Finally, something for what Zucker and all the people who worked with him on this movie will in all likelihood earn a nice warm place in hell - the tasteless, morbid, perverted exploitation of the terrorist attack of 2001. Dave, have you no decency? Have you no shame? At long last, have you NO SHAME?!

God, that was awful.

[protocoach · 1/10 · 4 October 2008]

I tried to go into this with an open mind. I'm fairly liberal generally, but I enjoy good movies, regardless of the slant. This tripe, though... Jesus. It was horrendous. There is not a single redeeming moment in the entire movie. "Disaster Movie" was better than this. This is - I would say a blatant propaganda piece, but that's unfair to blatant propaganda. This is propaganda on a level with "Triumph of the Will", if it was directed by an idiot and had a stupider message. Zucker was massively disappointing here. When he's on, he can be amazing, but when he isn't, the results are ugly. He's great at surrealist humor, obviously, but this film just tries to slap you in the face with the message every minute or so and the blame for that has to go to Zucker. Obviously the line "not screened for critics" should have filled me with dread, but I really didn't think it would be this bad. Good God.

whaaaa???

[alternium · 1/10 · 4 October 2008]

I really, really, really, really, really want to see Kevin Farley succeed as an actor, if only because he's paying his dues and obviously wants it very badly. By now, I have to think he's got enough experience to know what does and doesn't work comedically and I'm ready to see him shine.

Mr. Farley shines about as brightly in American Carol as a kump of petrified wood, but it's not his fault. It's really, really not his fault. The fault is not even in the script or with the director, it's in the premise. The idea that right-wing celebrities and media figures somehow need an opportunity to "get their own" runs smack into the reality: that these people, unlike the Hollywood elites, have actually been running this country and driven it to the very precipice of permanent disaster. If the film maker wanted to invite these figures into the theater as comedic devices, they simply can't work as underdogs. It's like "Springtime for Hitler" in "The Producers." The gag only worked because it was a fantastic irony. But there is no irony in An American Carol. Zucker wants us to take his premise seriously. But, unless you live in a bottle (as some of my fellow reviewers appear to), that threshold of believability is just way too high.

The jokes fell flat. The premise itself damned this film. It could not be funny. And so, it's not.

I sincerely wish Mr. Farley the best of luck in his future work and congratulate him on working with Mr. Zucker. It's a shame Mr. Zucker couldn't fit him into a picture as funny as Airplane or Naked Gun.

An American Carol: Awful for Intellectual Conservatives-great for the middle school brain

[cylynch · 1/10 · 4 October 2008]

After hearing David Zucker being interviewed on the radio, I wanted to support the ideas he espoused. I am a conservative who enjoy a good laugh, wants to see well-thought through engagement of intellectual ideas against the barrage of left-wing ideology. I share Zucker's desire to encourage the main street middle of the road average person but this did not do it. I actually walked out. I was embarrassed. This had no plot, offered only in your face stupid anti-intellectual arguments and aimed at the middle school aged brain. I feel sorry for him. I know he meant well but who is his target audience? It was not me. Or anyone I know. He failed in this first attempt to offer a counter for the left wing movie world. Lets see if he can learn from his mistake.Can he give us something that's intellectually stimulating and thoughtful as well as encouraging and fun? I would prefer a movie that has an engaging plot and is worthy of our time and money.

Finally, a movie where coffee-cafe-communists aren't telling me how to feel.

[Gatlinburg · 7/10 · 7 January 2009]

I laughed when I came on here and saw a handful of sheepish shoegazers reviewing this movie. They called it 'propaganda', they called it a 'Conservative brainwashing tool.' Let's be honest for a few minutes. Hollywood is riddled with mind-numbingly moronic 'actors' who tell you how to feel, tell you how to spend your money, tell you how to vote, and tell you how you should live your life. Honestly, how can you 16 year old latte lappers truthfully view this film as 'propaganda'? It just makes me laugh.

Anyway, this film was a nice breath of fresh air. I'm sick of Sean Penn pouring his whining little do-nothing tears all over the television set. I'm sick of Opera sitting on her $6,000 white sofa while crying about every low-life druggy that plops onto the seat next to her. I'm sick of the ALCU grave diggers scouring the globe and looking for the next person who says the word 'black' or spills coffee on their lap. I'm sick of Rosie Odonnell spraying bacon bits out of her loud mouth while she thinks she's daytime TVs answer to all the world's problems. Like I said, this film was a breath of fresh air.

Watching this film I realized that modern day America has no General Patton, we have no war hero JFK, we have no liberty loving George Washington. Modern day America needs public officials that know the price of freedom...now I know some of you leftist Bolsheviks will laugh at that, but that's only to your demise. Billions of people around the world are suffering at the hands of brutal and power hungry dictators...yet you sit behind your computer, posting your inane blogs, and believing all the answers can be solved with a click of a mouse and a hug. Get a grip on reality and stop living in Candy Land.

-AZ3 USN

a movie that reinforces and praises blind faith in America

[kedarguru · 1/10 · 15 June 2010]

I enjoy watching funny comedies - even the mindless ones that require a suspension of judgment. What I do not like about this movie is that it makes a statement, an absurd statement, which cannot be made in a non- comedic way, yet is meant to be taken seriously.

I do not consider myself political, but I do know that there are attitudes that are detrimental to human progress and well-being. It seems to me that the irrationalism that defines American neo- conservativism is not harmless 'ignorance is bliss'. The only reason that there is a "liberal slant" in the American media is that the "conservative slant" is not convincing to the younger generation of thinking people. That is why every documentary, political or not, that I have ever seen or heard of, is liberal-friendly. Because by making a comedic argument to be serious comes off as an ironic farce - which is precisely what this movie is.

Putting the political statements aside, it is just not funny.

Kudos to the brave souls who made this film

[jamesdeansixx · 8/10 · 4 October 2008]

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Though Mr. Zucker's brand of crude humor is typically not my cup of tea, the pleasure I took from watching so many of Hollywood's "sacred cows" being torpedoed on screen made me giddy as a schoolgirl.

The performances were well done, especially Kelsey Grammar as General Patton. Everyone involved in this project should be commended for having the stones to make a film so contrary to the prevailing culture in Hollywood.

This picture said so many things that needed to be said, yet did it through laughter, instead of venom-spewing. Well done.

everyone should watch

[lgsteel · 7/10 · 8 March 2009]

Everyone in this country should watch this. The indoctrination part is oh so true in this country. Our education system is so slanted to the liberal way. They talk about your freedom..it only counts of your a liberal. The educators in this country are pretty pathetic. The terrorists were very laughable. I know lots of the movie was for the comedy,but Michael Moore is a sad and pathetic boob..just like the main character here. If you liberals hate America so much then just leave..because we will never be a socialist country like this so called president we have now wants. There will be a civil war before our liberties are taken from us...it is building with this joke we have now. i THOUGHT BUSH WAS BAD..THIS JOKE IS WORSE AND HE HASN'T BEEN IN OFFICE FOR 90 DAYS.

So I sat through this thing....

[Jimmy-128 · 1/10 · 5 October 2008]

....and going beyond all the clumsy politics and posturing, I kept thinking, "This really reminds me of a TV sitcom after it's jumped the shark."

Is the conservative movement so creatively bankrupt that this is the best it can do? Really?

I'm sure it will resonate among New York Post-conservatives, but I can't imagine any Wall Street Journal-conservative taking it without a hefty grain of salt. I'd be very relieved if no one involved in this ever worked again, down to the key grips, best boys, and gaffs (whatever they are).