"American Carol" Funny Enough

Release Date: October 3rd, 2008 (wide)

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for rude and irreverent content, and for language and brief drug material.

Distributors: Vivendi Entertainment

Directed by: David Zucker

JJ Rating: B

Michael Malone (Kevin Farley) is just a documentary director who is anti everything that is American. He gets visited by a couple of ghost who help him understand that his way of thinking is not patriotic but similar to those that hindered progress in the past. American Carol.

It's a movie that mocks Michael Moore. I dislike Michael Moore for reasons that do not center on his stupid opinions but more around how he treats those who disagree with his stupid opinions. It was time he got mocked. The mocking was a little cheesier than satirical and that's why it only gets a B from me. I didn't think I was going to laugh out loud throughout, but I wanted it to be more satirical than a spoof of some sort. But I knew it wasn't really going to be because of who was directing it.

The acting was decent for the kind of movie that it was. The total aloofness and nonchalant talk by Kevin Farley worked well for his character. Jon Voight had a small role as George Washington and he looked decent and acted well. Trace Adkins was Death and he looked good in all that black. He did not have a huge role so he didn't have to do a whole lot but act like he would normally act, therefore he did well. Kelsey Grammer was George S. Patton and he was alright. He entertained. Leslie Nielsen did a ok job as the narrator.

There were some decent parts of this film that were pretty funny. The best part was the protesting part and when Nielsen stated what protesters were like. I liked it because protesters are, most of the time, a waste of space because they just protest over any and everything and make all protest meaningless. There were plenty of funny parts that will surely entertain those that were thinking of seeing this film. I wouldn't feel the need to see this one again. It got kind of too patriotic for me at the end.

The storyline for American Carol was decent. It wasn't totally harsh on the spoof of Michael Moore. It actually gave much leeway to allowing him to redeem himself and that's rather kind of those who created the story. They could have crucified him if they so had chosen to and the appointed crowd would have been just as pleased. But they decided to allow him to grow as a person and that was accepted. There were terrorists and they were pretty funny.

But the end surely was to pander to people to make them feel Proud to be an American...stand up and put that hand on your chest. Go on do it. Do it because you want to not because you hear the music or were told to. I don't like knowing that the filmmaker was trying to make me feel something instead of me feeling it myself. It's like an odd sense of thinking rape. Let me decide to feel that way, ok? Thanks.

American Carol does what it needs to do and that is entertain. If it had not entertained me I would have crapped all over it and then that would be that. I was amused by the funny comments made about protestors and Michael Moore followers. It was great stuff there. If you love Michael Moore or dislike conservative thought then this is so not a movie for you to see and state (like I saw one reviewer) "Conservatives could be funnier". Really? Thanks for the opinion 'person who wasn't going to like it no matter how much funnier it could have been'. It was brutally funny because of the truths that were littered in all that silly humor. And as a movie American Carol was funny enough.