An American Carol

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.

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.

...but these guys actually tried to make it funny and that's why they failed. They should have tried to make a neocon documentary about leftism instead that would be funny as hell. Insulting to other races "jokes", senile humor, extremely divisive world-view and the stalking of a fairly good documentarist (yeah I said Michael Moore is a good documentarist, go cry in your corners now). So pretty much all the ignorance and stupidity you'd expect from redneck neocons. Only surprise was that the movie wasn't produced in Alabama. The only joke I laughed at was the Taliban training video and I felt like an idiot after that.

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.

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.