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This is the kind of film that does not require critical analysis to dissuade people from seeing it. A mere detached, no-comment description is enough to make you give it a wide berth, especially if you find Robin Hardy and Anthony Shaffer's original cult classic a masterpiece of mood and atmosphere and a near-perfectly realized film. From Nic The Dog-Faced Boy gormlessly assaying a role that was meant to personify sexual repression and is here rewritten to signify nothing much at all, and a sadly-desperate-to-work Ellen Burstyn playing the Christopher Lee role with her face painted blue, to the very idea of trying to Americanize a story that is entirely dependent on Celtic paganism to have any meaning whatsoever, this is a Cook's Tour of Hollywood inanity. The crowning "achievement," of course, is the idea that this material would find its best reinterpretation at the hands of director Neil LaBute, a man best known for biting, dark, and arguably misanthropic satires like "Your Friends and Neighbors" and "In The Company of Men." LaBute takes a thoughtful meditation on how the reactionary forces of repression can intrude upon and undermine entire cultures and turns it into yet another one of his tiresome misogynistic screeds. Previously, these were mere subplots in wider-ranging polemics about the general vileness of humanity. In "The Wicker Man," LaBute's hostility to women comprise the sole purpose of this misbegotten exercise. Even if you don't subscribe to the notion that there is such a thing as a film that just shouldn't be remade, no one who sees this atrocity can be persuaded that "The Wicker Man" needed to be remade **this way.** The saddest part is, you can tell that even if you never saw the original.

"My Fellow Americans" boasts a well-crafted and quite funny script about two former presidents and longtime political rivals who must team up to expose a criminal scheme in which the sitting chief executive is implicated. Along the way, their efforts result in numerous farcically-staged attempts on their lives. That the screenplay works quite well in political thriller terms, with dramatically satisfying plot twists throughout, is rewarding enough; it's so much icing on the cake that the accompanying gags are equally strong, making this one of the most facile blends of suspense and comedy since the films of Colin Higgins. The screenplay's considerable entertainment value -- particularly for a political junkie -- is enhanced and brought to its full potential by solid direction and cutting, as well as the unassailable professionalism of a first-rate cast. The on screen chemistry and formidable comic timing of Jack Lemmon and James Garner as the former presidents, in their first and only screen pairing, is delightful, and thankfully so: one or both dominate almost every scene in the film. They receive equally expert support from Lauren Bacall, demonstrating her rarely-exploited talent for comedy; Dan Aykroyd in an uncharacteristically restrained performance; and the always-solidly professional John Heard, as well as an extraordinarily sharp supporting cast studded with many familiar faces -- such as Wilford Brimley ("China Syndrome"), Sela Ward, and Esther Rolle of "Good Times" fame -- though not all are necessarily household names. Any lover of political satire or action-oriented farce will find this film's running time to be time well spent, and C-SPAN addicts -- provided that they have a sense of humor about their passion – will be richly rewarded.