American Dreamz **
Cast: Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Mandy Moore, Marcia Gay Harden, Willem Dafoe, Chris Klein, Judy Greer, Sam Golzari, Shoreh Aghdashloo, Jennifer Coolidge
Director: Paul Weitz
Running Length: 1:40
MPAA Classification: PG-13

President Staton (Quaid) has just won a second term in office, and after reading a newspaper, goes into seclusion to catch up on things. When the public begins to question his ability to lead the country, his Chief of Staff (Defoe) gets the president an appearance as a guest judge on the finals of the hit show "American Dreamz".

"American Dreamz" is hosted by Martin Tweed (Grant). He is trapped by the show, hoping for failure just so it will end. Then he sees Sally Kendoo (Moore). In her he sees a like-minded person. He gets her onto the show, and she is easily the best of the bunch. Another notable contestant is Omar (Golzari), a terrorist sent to America to get him out of the more capable terrorist’s way. Of course he is now in a position to do some serious damage, if only he did not like singing so much.

"American Dreamz" has some potential, but never really accomplishes much. Quaid and Grant channel their inner-Bush and inner-Simon Cowell, but it takes more than just two good impersonations to make a movie good. Much of the story falls flat or feels unbelievable. The ending is a prime example of this. I would say that I was disappointed with this movie, but the previews did not exactly get my hopes up. If you must see this movie, wait until it is out on DVD.