An American Carol

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.

An American Carol is an entertaining movie on many levels. I found it to be humorous and extremely poignant. The last take off on Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" that was this funny and this entertaining was Bill Murray's Scrooged. Kevin Farley (yes, Chris' brother) is amazing as rotund, anti-American film maker Michael Malone. This film perfectly lampoons and wonderfully illustrates mindless liberal agendas across the board. It's even emotional and moving at times. The amazing cast includes many cameos (Leslie Nielsen, Dennis Hopper, Kelsey Grammar, James Woods, etc.) and many outstanding performances. Almost every scene delivers either something silly, flat out funny or something to think about. If this movie doesn't make you think and cherish America then your mind is already closed, what there is of it.

Go see this movie. You will laugh at the sad truth of it all. Freedom is not free. We would not have the liberties we have without kicking some crazy rears now and again, and to protect our rights now we need to keep a strong military. I was disgusted with the previews that came before the movie. Full of lewdness and porn. Have we sunk this far? What good money is wasted on disgusted movies, that warp our children's minds. Hey liberals, why don't you take all that money you have raised for the next worthless movie you are working on and feed the poor with it! This movie is not perfect, but makes some great statements, and you will laugh out loud. Go to see this movie, if only to make a statement.

...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.

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.