Metacritic reviews

Although immensely entertaining, Theodore Melfi’s screenplay has some unexplained potholes here and there which will have audiences scratching their heads from time to time. Regardless, it’s clear that director Paul Dektor’s empathy and heart dwell in the right place for a story ultimately asking the questions of what one needs to be happy, how far we are willing to go to achieve it, and what role does loneliness play in these life-altering decisions?

Directed by Paul Dektor from a disarmingly offbeat screenplay by Theodore Melfi, American Dreamer is fresh, original, unpredictable and unexpectedly funny.

While more could have been done to develop Dinklage and MacLaine's characters, or explore the outcome which comes in the film's sudden and succinct conclusion, American Dreamer does a tremendous job of exploring one man's American dream, the lengths he must go to achieve it, and what is waiting for him once he reaches that goal.

American Dreamer doesn’t so much end as peter (Ahem.) out, with a finale that feels like a series of compromises which no one wanted to winnow down. But if you skip the movie leading up to that, you’ll be missing a lot of laughs and a tale that takes that “Peter Dinklage as sex symbol” thing about as far as it can go.

Those who may not care quite as much about the economic messaging underpinning the film may still find Dinklage careening through windows and getting seduced by hot graduate students worthy of the time investment. Still, there’s no denying that this could have been so much more.

Most of the enjoyment of “American Dreamer” comes in watching Dinklage react to indignities and awkward moments.

This low-key oddity has the potential for some proper horsepower given the odd but intriguing casting of Peter Dinklage and Shirley MacLaine, but it never manages to build up much comic or dramatic speed – much like Dinklage’s electric scooter, his main mode of transport throughout.