Okay, I'm going to finally admit it right here, in black-and-white...I'm a Democrat.
Not totally card-carrying, mind you. Sometimes the membership card is stuck somewhere in my wallet behind my tattered, well-worn social security card. Sometimes I forget and leave it at home, especially when I'm in a heated debate about how I feel everyone who lives in this country should be able--at the most bare minimum, at least--to speak the same English that God bestowed upon Charlton Heston. And yes--I am, to some degree, a fan of documentarian filmmaker Michael Moore.
Obviously, Republicans aren't. He bashes them quite a bit, and in their recent zeal to make films exposing "the truth" about Moore, they've come off as little more than whiny sore losers. That said, I went into An American Carol with an open mind, because I also like filmmaker David Zucker(Airplane!, Ruthless People), and just as Moore likes to debunk myths and reveal what's hidden beneath the shams in our society, he's not above reproach himself and could possibly use some deflating of his ego.
An American Carol is supposed to be a wry, clever take on the Dickens classic, only this time an arrogant, ignorant documentarian who hates America is taken on a trip through history by three ghosts of classic real-life heroes(Kennedy, Patton and Washington) and comes to discover how wrong he was and how much there is to love America. However, director Zucker(who is a Republican, by the way) has chosen to deliver a movie that feels like it was made by the living archetype of what the public perceives Republicans to be: an inherently nasty, mean-spirited, borderline racist and humorless automaton prescribing blindly to the Party system.
When parodying either a person or a thing, it's imperative that the person doing the parody distance themselves from the subject in order to put an objective spin on why the subject to be derided should be looked upon with scorn. It's the reason why comedians such as Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock and Dennis Leary had such long lifespans on stage. It's the reason why Richard Pryor was able to get such big laughs when relating the story of how he caught on fire while freebasing--by substituting the term "chocolate milk" for "cocaine". If a comedic writer/director doesn't distance them-selves from the material they're presenting, then their hatred or contempt of the subject will be visible for all to see, and will make themselves look that much smaller in their audiences' eyes.
Yes, the real Michael Moore isn't perfect; he's somewhat manipulative in the way he sets up the people he interviews in his films, as I pointed out in my review of the DVD Sicko. Yes, he could probably benefit from attending a couple of Weight Watchers meetings, or perhaps point out some of the flaws in the other countries he appears to favor over America, rather than simply focusing on the shiny happy side, as he did in Farenheit 9/11. However, there is no emperical evidence that Moore possesses significant body odor or constantly eats foot-long subs or picks smashed Twinkies off of walls. Being that Moore's been married to the same woman for more than ten years, I doubt he's a sex-obsessed nerd who constantly tries to feel up nubile young women in public areas. And I'm fairly certain that Michael Moore doesn't absolutely hate America.
Could some of these b.o., fat, sex and food jokes have been funny? Perhaps, if presented only once instead of nearly a half dozen times, and handled with more subtlety and finesse. Are they funny here? No...because Zucker, who once delivered comedy gems such as The Naked Gun, is unable to distance himself from his revulsion of Moore...and he's begun repeating jokes he first told twenty years ago, in the afore-mentioned Gun.
The story is listless and dry. It defies its own internal logic, through either carelessness or poor direction. It's one thing to do it in the name of a gag, as when the ghost of General George S. Patton(Kelsey Grammer) tells Michael Malone(the worthless Kevin Farley) that people around them can't see either of them as they take a trip to the past, and then Malone gets slapped by a young woman whose breasts he tries to fondle. But to have your two central characters in a scene wandering around and extras are smiling at the camera is just laziness on the part of the director. And to do the breast gag twice is just unforgivable. While the makeup department is able to allow Chriss Anglin(General Hospital, Aliens Gone Wild) to look like President John F. Kennedy, enough footage of the legendary leader exists that one can tell his impression relates closer to Mayor Quimby from The Simpsons than the former king of Camelot. Gail O'Grady(NYPD Blue, American Dreams), whose career has begun to crash and burn once more, joins such former luminaries as David Alan Grier(The Woodsman, Bewitched), Kevin Sorbo(Andromeda, Meet the Spartans) and Gary Coleman(Diff'rent Strokes, Church Ball) in the "Where are they now? Oh, in this?! Sorry..." department. And the credibility of casting director Beverly Holloway(Faith Happens, Throwing Stars) goes right out the window with the placing of Paris Hilton(why does she even have film credits?!) and her B.J. lips in the film.
There are some gems found amidst the dross in this film: For one, there is a hysterically funny parody of a Rosie O'Donnell documentary which makes Christians into terrorists, and the performance of Jon Voight(The Karate Dog, Ali) as George Washington is both sublime and moving. Although Dennis Hopper(Easy Rider, Cool Hand Luke) and James Woods(Videodrome, The Virgin Suicides) embarrass themselves by appearing here, the best performance by far belongs to Grammer(Frasier, Back to You) as Patton. Grammer brings both dignity and subtle humor to the role, as well as a heartfelt earnestness which the rest of the film and characters are almost totally bereft. Surprisingly, Republican pundit Bill O'Reilly(whom I usually can't stand) is likeable in this film, and provides one of the bigger laughs. I actually wanted to see more of him on screen--and what does that tell you, if O'Reilly is more preferable than anything else Zucker puts up on the screen?
There are actually some good messages in this film, chief among them being the idea that even if conflict with another nation isn't desired, it is sometimes necessary in order to protect and provide the freedoms we hold dear. If only An American Carol weren't so obsessed with proving how clever it is at pointing out Michael Moore's faults(it isn't), the lessons it attempts to teach wouldn't get buried under an avalanche of such worthless, unfunny garbage.
Official Archives of LanceReviews...
Off-tune "Carol"
New film tries to dump on Michael Moore, but it's just a dump, period.
What happens when a parody unintentionally parodies itself? You get a film almost exclusively without laughs.
Desperate for attention: Finally out from under his late brother's shadow, Kevin Farley has the chance to let his comedic skills shine. He fails...miserably.
Kelsey Grammer(left) plays General Patton, one of the ghosts giving Malone a lesson on the American Way. The real Patton would have slapped at least one of the people in this still.
"Don't get smart, Woods! I need the paycheck! At least you've got legit film cred, so I don't know what you're doing here!"
"All right, everyone--all together now: Down with this movie! Down with this movie! Down with this movie..."
