Post by StevePulaski on Sept 11, 2017 12:33:19 GMT -5
An American Carol (2008)
Directed by: David Zucker
Directed by: David Zucker
Filmmaker Michael Malone (Kevin Farley, left) and General Patton (Kelsey Grammer) in An American Carol.
Rating: ★★
As I settled into bed a few nights ago, one of the most random thoughts entered my mind: what has come of David Zucker in recent time? Has he cowered away during a time when the landscape of theatrical parody movies is as bleak and as dreadful as its ever been, a move no one could truly blame him for, or is he using some unconventional platform to release his movies as he approaches? Turns out, at 69-years-old, he has been more-or-less inactive since An American Carol, his last directorial effort which will turn ten years old next fall. Like John Waters, Martin Brest, Stanley Donen, and a handful of other directors, you either passively respond upon seeing the landscape change and slowly nudge you out or you risk dating yourself and undermining your own work by pushing back.
Maybe it's best Zucker has ostensibly moved forward quietly, especially after something as cheap and forgettable as An American Carol. The once comic titan, capable of churning out an Airplane! or a Naked Gun sequel that was just as fun and as impressive as its predecessor, throws his hat in the ring of political, right-leaning comedy, which is just a hair short of being dismal.
I'll be the first to admit that with the barrage of left-leaning movies attacking conservative politics, it's only fair there should exist conservative comedies that lampoon the common annoyances of liberals - an equal opportunity playing field of offensiveness makes comedy just. However, I simply cannot get behind a film this lackadaisical and uninspired, especially one that resorts to fat jokes and slapping as its main ammunition for attacks on the widely criticized documentarian Michael Moore.
With a needless frame-story showing Leslie Nielsen as a rambling grandfather, the film follows the exploits of Michael Malone, a shamelessly anti-American documentary filmmaker who is planning on holding a rally - otherwise known as a gathering where people who are uninformed chant their opinions loudly and repeatedly to show how little they actually know - to ban the Fourth of July holiday. Just as the protest is about to go underway, Malone is visited, in Christmas Carol-style, by three flag-waving American spirits that make an attempt to remind him all that America has done. We have General George Patton, played in modestly entertaining fashion by Kelsey Grammer, who shows Malone an alternate America where slavery is still legal because Lincoln chose not to fight in the Civil War. This is because Malone is so staunchly anti-war, feeling every problem can be solved with a treaty or a heart-to-heart.
The other two that visit him are George Washington, played by known conservative actor Jon Voight, as well as the angel of death, played by country musician Trace Adkins, who takes him to a dystopian Los Angeles that has been taken over by radical Islamists. These three spirits were summoned by John F. Kennedy (Chriss Anglin), who informs Malone of his dreadful misinterpretation of some of his most famous quotes, and try as hard as they can to make Malone recognize the ill of his ways in hopes he'll cross over to the conservative side.
There's also a subplot involving jihadists, which is not only terribly contrived but juvenile all the more. Zucker, who serves as one of the film's writers, has a terrible habit of making this film so reliant on the low-hanging fruit of its subject matter, mocking Muslims for their similar names, Michael Moore for being fat, and documentaries for being dry, boring, and apparently unworthy of acclaim.
Malone is played by Kevin Farley, the brother of the late Chris Farley who looks like a spitting image of the supremely talented comic. Kevin Farley could be a solid actor in comedies, but he's confirmed by taking roles in movies such as Paranormal Movie and Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser that he's not interested in attempting comedy of the highest order - not even on the level of memorable slapstick like his brother. He seems content with the least common denominator, and it's a damn-shame because, between taking roles as Michael Moore and a lead character in a Paranormal Activity movie, playing dress-up certainly gets old faster than if you just did modestly budgeted, spec-script comedies.
An American Carol is a wholly lackluster affair, too incompetent to be truly offensive and too dumb to live up to its true potential. I hesitate to make the bold claim that Zucker has lost his touch, but wouldn't go as far as to say he needs to redirect his attention elsewhere than the kabuki theater of lampooning American politics. One could at least be happy he didn't attempt An American Carol roughly ten years later; I'd hate to see current hot button topics treated with such poor comic direction.
Starring: Kevin Farley, Kelsey Grammer, Jon Voight, Trace Adkins, Dennis Hopper, Robert Davi, Sammy Sheik, Leslie Nielsen, and James Woods. Directed by: David Zucker.