An American Carol

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.

First off, the obvious: This is a film about which you'll have to pretty much ignore votes, ratings and "helpful/unhelpful" tallies, because it's going to be alternately trashed and raved about almost entirely along party lines.

"American Carol" doesn't pretend to be anything but an in-your-face slam of Hollywood's and more broadly America's vestigial, recidivistic Left wing and pulls no punches in doing so, so the clash of vitriol vs. irrational exuberance has to be sifted through for more objective appraisals - which latter is my intent here.

I'm almost positive that this review is going to end up being exceedingly "un-useful," however. Oh darn.

By way of ideological identification I am mostly in tune with Zucker's attitude, though with a number of reservations. Which means I was predisposed to the film going in - which I suppose you could say makes me instantly biased. Nevertheless, I have a high standard for comedy regardless of external elements, and a harshly critical ear for humor. "American Carol" wasn't on the same par with Zucker's uproarious classics "Airplane" and, especially, "The Naked Gun"(#1 only,) but it kept me in laugh-out-loud stitches consistently. The man clearly has a good eye for comedic timing and the judicious placement of visual and verbal zingers.

Absent in "American Carol" were the nonstop background sight gags that made "Naked Gun" and "Airplane" so much fun. They were there, but most were front-and-center, and more sparse rather than constant - the political proselytizing would've been better served, and more effectively conveyed, by understating some of the politics in favor of more sight gags. It worked surprisingly well as comedy anyway, given that heavy political content. I would think that even an open-minded Democrat would enjoy this as a comedy, but he'd have to be fairly thick-skinned.

In terms of politics "American Carol" presents a long-overdue sendup of Michael Moore and that whole smug vestigial-Left clique who've had a hammerlock on Hollyweird since Reagan went on to bigger things after having cleaned out the grunge as head of SAG. More broadly it's a breath of fresh air just in its cracking through that stale, monolithic, Party-line goosestep that's tainted virtually every Hollywood release in recent years with its creepy, obligatory countercultural-Left subtext. Naturally, adherents to any monopoly will resist having that comfy monopoly disturbed, but in context of the commonly lip-serviced "marketplace of ideas," that particular monopoly had given a whole new meaning to the word "stale." Enough already. A little good old fashioned competition is the cure of course, and Zucker has done a great, courageous and undeniably funny job of providing it.

Advantage: Zucker. Bravo! More of this, please.

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.

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.

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.