IMAGINE A COUNTRY WHERE THE PRESIDENT NEVER READS THE NEWSPAPER, WHERE THE GOVERNMENT GOES TO WAR FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS, AND MORE PEOPLE VOTE FOR A POP IDOL THAN THEIR NEXT PRESIDENT.
Director Paul Weitz is almost overreaching here. We’re introduced to the quite depressed U.S. President (Dennis Quaid), the cynical host (Hugh Grant) of an American Idol-type show, and two of the contestants, career-minded Sally (Mandy Moore) and a potential suicide bomber (Sam Golzari). Neither of them is sure of what to do with their lives; that idea is the raison d’etre of Weitz’s screenplay, but the radical mix of showbiz and politics is jarring at times. Ultimately though, it is a funny and charming satire with a vivid cast; Moore is perfect and Grant amusing as the Simon Cowell type.
2006-U.S. 107 min. Color. Written and directed by Paul Weitz. Cast: Hugh Grant (Martin Tweed), Dennis Quaid (Joe Staton), Mandy Moore (Sally Kendoo), Willem Dafoe, Chris Klein, Jennifer Coolidge… Marcia Gay Harden. Cameo: Carmen Electra.
