An American Carol

I went and saw An American Carol yesterday.

An American Carol is the unabashedly right-wing comedy from director David Zucker.  The film deals with a Michael Moore-like filmmaker (played by Kevin Farley, brother of Chris) who is leading a campaign to abolish the 4th of July.  At the same time, he is also being unknowingly duped by a terrorist (played by Robert Davi) who wants to blow up Madison Square Garden.  As one might guess from the movie's title, all of this leads to Farley being visited by three spirits (Kelsey Grammer as George Patton, Jon Voight as George Washington, and Trace Adkin as George, the Angel of Death) who show him the error of his ways.

The reviews of An American Carol have been horrendous and to a certain extent, the reviewers have a point.  Technically, An American Carol is a deeply flawed film.  The plot is predictable, the humor is hit-or-miss, there's a rather awkward framing device featuring Leslie Nielsen, and the film's message is heavy handed. 

However, that all said, the amount of outrage that this film has generated amongst some people in the media is, quite simply put, absurd.  The New York Times, for instance, wrote that the film's jokes about middle eastern suicide bombers were "racist."  Of course, it's nothing of the sort.  The fact of the matter is that there is something inherently stupid about the whole concept of being a "suicide bomber" and this entire country will be better off when that can be freely admitted.  Regardless of what some apologists may claim, there is no courage involved in walking into a crowded place and blowing yourself up. 

These angry reviewers are missing the point (or else they're getting the point and it really annoys them).  An American Carol is a film that was made to entertain people whose beliefs are usually attacked in most forms of popular entertainment.  That the film isn't all that good doesn't change the fact that it is still somewhat refreshing to see the other side presented on screen.  And while the film is indeed lacking in ambiguity, so was Lions for Lambs, Redacted, Stop-Loss, In the Valley of Ellah, and every other film inspired by the "war of terror."  (And that's not always a bad thing.  One of the best films I've seen this year -- Thomas McCarthy's The Visitor -- is as heavy handed as nearly any film I've seen.)  It's always interesting to note that people on both sides of the political divide only seem to mind a heavy hand when that heavy hand is actively smacking their face.

Despite the film's flaws, I enjoyed it because it was a film that had been tailor-made to appeal to my own perspective.  (I also enjoyed it because, the whole time I was watching, I kept imagining the rabid outrage the film's humor would invoke in my more liberal friends.)  The film also has a historical significance as it serves as a record of the current counterculture in Hollywood.  There are not many actors who admit to not being a Democrat (much less being a Republican) and, at times, it seems as if David Zucker has managed to cast almost every single one of them in this movie.  Among the heretics appearing in the cast are James Woods, Robert Davi, Dennis Hopper (yes, I'm as surprised as you are), Kelsey Grammer, Christopher McDonald, Jon Voight, John O'Hurley, and the aforementioned Mr. Farley and Mr. Nielsen.  Out of that group, special praise should go to Mr. Davi (who is both funny as well as genuinely threatening as a stand-in for Osama Bin Laden) and Jon Voight (who is so perfectly cast as George Washington that, during his brief screen time, he actually elevates the movie into something more than just an in-joke for Republicans).  One can only regret that Chuck Norris was apparently to busy running Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign to take part.

If, like me, you're not an Obama supporter, you'll probably enjoy An American Carol.  At the very least, it'll give you a chance to laugh at jokes that were specifically written with you in mind.  At the very least, the film provides us a chance to feel a little bit less isolated in the Obama Nation.