Movie Reviews

Movie Reviews: An American Carol

Charles Dickens' classic novel A Christmas Carol serves as the model and framework for An American Carol, which on the surface, appears to be a satire that skewers the current Middle Eastern conflict and its relationship with America. Whereas Dickens' curmudgeonly, cheap Scrooge despised Christmas, An American Carol's overweight, heavily bearded and overly critical Michael Malone (Kevin Farley)—in a painfully obvious swipe at leftist documentarian Michael Moore—hates the Fourth of July and all of the holiday’s pomp and circumstance. Malone is painted as a "fat ignorant sack of shit" that even the Girl Scouts despise. The writers of An American Carol view Malone through a right-wing lens, depicting him as an anti-American who wants to abolish the traditional July 4 festivities. When did Michael Moore become so relevant that he deserves an entire movie dedicated to trashing him? Turns out, that’s only the beginning of this mirthless, laughless film's problems!

An American Carol is a flawed film through and through. It's a satire positioning Malone as a gluttonous bleeding heart. It borders on character assassination of Moore and regardless of whether or not you subscribe to Moore’s politics or even enjoy his films, having him shove a Twinkie down his gullet in every scene is a fat joke that wears thin in its excessiveness. Director David Zucker of Airplane! and Naked Gun fame is normally quite adept at riffing through comedy but with An American Carol, there's not much roasting, just a lot of silliness masquerading as biting humor. Moore has his critics and isn't considered a cultural sacred cow by any means, so why make him the film’s piñata to be incessantly hacked away at? It’s baffling, to say the least, but the film's non-stop skewering of the filmmaker only serves to elevate him a bit. Even those who are anti-Moore might be forced to question, "Is he really that bad?" thanks to this movie.

Noted Republicans like Kelsey Grammer as General George C. Patton accompanying Malone through his past, appear, which further thumbs the film's scale as a piece of right wing propaganda. Devices, such as renaming Hollywood to Bin Laden City and having Malone meet the ghost of George Washington (a barely recognizable JonVoight ) at a church covered in the dust of September 11 victims and rubble is not only crude and tasteless, but it's still way too soon of an event to place in such a context. The spirit of the point is understood, but the execution is downright deplorable. Bad move, Zucker!

An American Carol fails, and miserably so, because it lacks resonant irony and the belly laughs that have engendered the satire genre to moviegoers with varied senses of humor. Even the staunchest, card-carrying GOP'er would search for real laughs or support for their pro-America arguments in this film.

The film ends with Trace Adkins, who doubles as the tough talkin' Angel of Death, singing a patriotic anthem after Malone has been converted to "like" America. This film entirely misses the point that those who question authority only do so because the beauty of a free and democratic society is the ability to make some waves. And if that's not loving America, what is?

— Amy Sciarretto
12.31.08