Swing and miss

David Zucker’s American Carol tries to hit too many targets | Megan Basham

Vivendi Entertainment

There are certain movies you go in hoping to love—and a movie that lampoons the political pretensions of George Clooney, the ACLU's war on Christianity, and the Anti-American antics of documentary-maker Michael Moore is probably going to be on that list for most WORLD readers. So it's too bad that while American Carol (rated PG-13 for rude and irreverent content, language, and brief drug material) does score political points, it doesn't score nearly as many comical ones.

It's not for lack of a great set-up. Borrowing from Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol, the film follows "Michael Malone," an anti-war activist and award-winning film director, as he leads a grassroots effort to abolish the Fourth of July. In the course of his campaign, he is visited by three ghosts—John F. Kennedy (Chriss Anglin), General George S. Patton (Kelsey Grammar), and George Washington (Jon Voight)—who show the director visions of his past and future in an attempt to pierce his unpatriotic heart with a new love for country. It's quite a letdown when such an inspired premise rarely leads to more than a few chuckles.