‘An American Carol’ Hits A Sour Note

An American Carol
PG-13 for rude and irreverent content, and for language and brief drug material.

**Please Note: This is NOT a review of the movie. I have not seen this movie yet. This post contains thoughts about issues with the movie before it even opens.**

An American Carol is described as a “zany comedy that spoofs liberalism and Hollywood from a conservative point of view and takes a comedic approach to dismantling the anti-Americanism found in Hollywood.” The description concludes by saying, “It promises to offend Hollywood’s liberal sensibilities.” It’s slated to open on October 3, just one month before the 2008 Presidential Election.

As far as I’m concerned, An American Carol is already hitting some sour notes.

This may sound odd, especially since I’m writing on a Family-Friendly movie blog, but I have a feeling this movie will not be family-friendly. The PG-13 warning says it carries this rating for rude and irreverent content, and for language and brief drug material. With this in mind, many times when we review PG-13 movies with the same warning, we say they’re not family-friendly. Another odd thing coming in this post revolves around the fact that with such a movie, one might think I would be excited about the opening of An American Carol. But I’m not. As a matter of fact, as a conservative, I’m embarrassed by the description of the movie, and even the commercials for this flick.

Am I saying Hollywood does not have it’s share of filmmakers pushing a liberal left agenda? Absolutely not! But, why is it that these so-called conservatives responsible for this movie feel the need to be rude and irreverent when trying to put forth a positive image of the United States. As far as I’m concerned, those involved with An American Carol are no different from those on the left they’re taking aim at. To be totally honest, I will go even as far to say that director David Zucker is no different than Michael Moore whom they harpoon in the movie with a character named Michael Malone. The conservative right are quick to scream and yell about the absurdities of Michael Moore. That means, the liberal left can do the same thing with David Zucker. Again, Zucker should be ashamed of himself for thinking this was even a good idea.

The commercials advertising the upcoming release of An American Carol adds even more insult to injury for this flick. Why are these conservative filmmakers already carrying with them a martyr complex syndrome? The commercial for the movie says being a conservative in Hollywood can get you jailed. That means those involved with this movie, people like David Zucker, Kevin Farley, Kelsey Grammer and John Voight, need to be careful. They did the movie and they might be banned from Hollywood now.

First off, I know a number of conservatives who are doing quite well in Hollywood. As a matter of fact, Hollywood has been very kind to Kelsey Grammer and John Voight just to mention two names on that list. Such an advertising tactic for this movie simply makes me want to stay away. I, nor any balanced minded conservative, should succumb to such scare tactics. Once again, the filmmakers probably think they’re being cute. However, such an advertising tactic is more of an insult to our intelligence than anything else. This is simply not funny.

Finally, and this is yet another reason why An American Carol is already hitting some sour notes even before it opens, has to do with an interview pitch I recently received. Arriving in my email was a message from a company I book guests with for my Live Line talk show. The pitch described the movie and told me why I should book a guest on my show to talk about the movie. The email finished by saying;

“Hollywood conservatives and stars of the film are available to discuss the film and how it challenges current liberal thinking about war, the military, the environment and many other political issues.”

Then, just to make sure I got the message that people like David Zucker, Myrna Sokoloff and Kevin Farley would LOVE to come on my show, the email closed by saying –

Immediately available for interviews…

“Wow!” I thought to myself. “This is cool, I’m a movie critic, on a conservative radio station in a movie market that hovers right around one of the top 50 movie markets in the US, this would be a great interview.” I quickly sent off an email to the agent, provided a few different dates I have open for interviews and waited for a response. What was the response you ask? I’m sorry but you’re in the EST zone and the people Immediately Available for the interviews are on the west coast in Hollywood. Since the time slot you’re looking at is 8:40am EST, no one is available because that’s too early for them to get out of bed.

Say what!? Too early!? Hmmmm….suddenly these so-called conservatives who want to get the message out about their new film, are just like the rest of the people in Hollywood. The message from Hollywood is pretty much – “You bow down to me because I’m in Hollywood.”

The agent asked me if I could record an interview with someone. My response — “The show is called the Live Line. That means we go live.” I went on to point out the fact that I’ve interviewed a number of people on the west coast and they had no issues with the time. But, as I said, I guess the Hollywood stars who think their different because they’re connected with An American Carol are really no different than many of their counterparts they’re making fun of in this movie.

The bottom line is this – there are many positive and good movies coming out of Hollywood these days. With that in mind, my advice to you, the movie goer, is to probably avoid this show. It appears those involved are no better than they’re counterparts, so that means they’re really not worth supporting at all.

Will this post catch the attention of anyone involved with An American Carol? That’s hard to say. Would it change their mind about coming on the air with me? Who knows. But I for one, at least at this point in time, have no interest in seeing An American Carol. As for me, I’ll watch Robin Williams in Man of the Year and laugh at the subtle shots at the liberal left in that flick.

Avoid the show,
Dr. Rus