American Dreamz

Finally, a day off yesterday...it was most welcome, and I spent the bulk of the day lounging around the house and watching NBA basketball. It wasn't until the evening that I left the apartment where I had a tasty roast lamb dinner at my friend Ellen's, and then afterwards Claire & I saw the movie "American Dreamz."

My own personal review: definitely entertaining, but pretty fluffy. Despite trying to break down ethnic stereotypes, the movie relies heavily on one-dimensional characters who are often obvious caricatures of people we are familiar with in real-life. For instance, Dennis Quaid plays a dumb-as-a-post president a la George W., Willem Dafoe plays an obvious Karl Rove-like character, Mandy Moore draws comparisons fellow white trash phenom Britney Spears, and Hugh Grant plays a typical reality-show Ryan Seacrest-type vapid host with no talent of his own. Probably the best subplot involves a young Iraqi whose mother was killed by an American bomb who comes to the U.S. as part of a terrorist cell but ends up as a contestant on the American Dreamz (a.k.a. American Idol) television show due to his passionate love for famous American show tunes. Despite these shortcomings it's very watchable and witty. I'd even recommend seeing it before it hits the rental store...

But go see Spike Lee's "Inside Man" first.

Since I mentioned the country Iraq in the above movie review, today's Question of the Day is the following: How many countries does Iraq border? Click here for an answer...