American Dreamz

In lampooning President Bush and American Idol, this film exposes Hollywood’s strange political pathologies. | Gene Edward Veith

American Dreamz (PG-13) lampoons President Bush and American Idol. Those are arguably fair game. But it goes on to lampoon American servicemen in Iraq and show the humorous side of terrorism. In doing so, the film exposes Hollywood's strange political pathologies.

Dennis Quaid plays a president with a Texas accent. His father was also president. His wife is a parody of Laura Bush. He is inarticulate, clueless, and very, very stupid. As part of that stupidity, he is religious, with the movie ridiculing how he thinks the Lord put him into office and how the first thing he would rescue if the North Koreans attack is his Bible.

The movie presents him as sort of good-hearted, but he is so infantile that he is under the control of his wife and his Dick-Cheney-looking chief of staff (Willem Dafoe). After the president's reelection, he resolves to actually read so that he can understand the issues he is facing. He tries to read The New York Times and the Canadian press, but the chief of staff puts a stop to that.