An American Carol is about as not-funny as a comedy can get.
2 Comments
10/06/08
An American Carol (2008)
13
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:40
Fresh:5
Rotten:35
Average Rating:3/10
Consensus: An American Carol suffers not so much from its perceived political bias, but from the fact that it simply is not very funny.
Runtime: 83 mins
Genre: Comedies
US Box Office: $6,960,000
Synopsis: Director David Zucker (AIRPLANE, NAKED GUN) returns to the satire genre with AN AMERICAN CAROL. The political spoof stars Kevin Farley (brother of the late comedian Chris Farley) as Michael Malone,... [More]
Starring: Leslie Nielsen, Kevin Farley, Kelsey Grammer, Trace Adkins
Director: David Zucker
Reviews for An American Carol
It's a polemic, a screed, a combination comic rant and sentimental flag-waver that doesn't work as either.
10/06/08
What makes An American Carol overtly depressing rather than merely lame is its allegiance to a diseased political discourse built on crude dichotomies: Either you're a bellicose, God-fearing patriot or a troop-hating, traitorous hippie.
10/06/08
I can't imagine anyone -- Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, red-state or blue-state, earthling or E.T. -- finding An American Carol anything other than 'not funny.' And idiotic. And demeaning. And aggressively, persistently crummy.
10/06/08
Is there any filmmaker alive, whether Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal, capable of producing a truly incisive, intelligent satire about our politically polarized times?
10/06/08
Cheap shots and mean spirits abound, as do celebrity cameos. But it’s the laziness of the writing that most offends.
10/06/08
Top CriticGiven that this supremely silly satire directed by The Naked Gun's David Zucker plays more like something slapped together to beat an expiration date, it's hard to get too worked up about it.
10/06/08
Top CriticOnly you can decide whether you're in the mood to wade through the smear of stink jokes and political ravings.
10/06/08
Ultimately, the problem with An American Carol is the problem with far too much political discourse in this country, left or right: It highlights the worst excesses of the opposition for the sole purpose of discrediting the vast middle.
10/06/08
A liberal witch hunt in court jester clothing, and in-your-face politics presumably to coincide with the election, while certain to have Charles Dickens roll over in his grave. An American Carol: Huh?! Cinema at its foulest.
10/06/08
Challenging authority as unpatriotic? Bah, humbug!
10/06/08
Although it's refreshing to encounter a parody that doesn't use tired movie genres for inspiration, An American Carol squanders its comedic potential with a near-total absence of laughs.
10/06/08
Even if it weren't three years too late to parody Moore (ineptly played by Kevin Farley), Moore's ridiculous tribute to Cuban health care in Sicko is far funnier than anything in this desperately laughless farce from David Zucker.
10/06/08
... while it may be (director David Zucker's) passion for the (obvious conservative agenda), it's easily more entertaining than either Scary Movie 3 or 4.
10/04/08
I'm giving it a just-barely-recommended grade not because it's terribly funny (which it isn't), but because it's fascinating as a cultural artifact.
10/03/08
This movie’s level of political discourse makes Couric/Palin look like Frost/Nixon.
10/03/08
While it is the liberals of America who receive the brunt of abuse, it is the conservatives, portrayed as hypocritical, narrow-minded hicks and heathens, that unintentionally look like fools.
10/03/08
The right should follow Zucker's lead engage its liberal opposition with humor rather than the crass protests and attempts at bans usually flung at Moore's films.
10/03/08
It's neat to see a movie from another point of view... Still, the movie has a message, and that message gets in the way of the comedy at least half of the time
10/03/08
American Carol reinforces how needlessly divisive our country has become. Certainly there's a better way to say "Yay America!" than this lousy, hopeless movie, easily one of the worst films of the year.
10/03/08
Latest News for An American Carol
January 03, 2009:
A liberal witch hunt in court jester clothing, certain to have Charles Dickens roll over in his grave. An American Carol: Huh?! Cinema at its foulest. 
More...
December 29, 2008:
RT on DVD: A Matthew McConaughey Stinker or Event Horizon on Blu-ray?
It's officially the last DVD release week of the year, although much like the box office, most big-ticket new releases debuted last week in time for Christmas. Nevertheless,... More...
October 31, 2008:
A liberal witch hunt in court jester clothing, and in-your-face politics presumably to coincide with the election, while certain to have Charles Dickens roll over in his grave. An American Carol: Huh?! Cinema at its foulest.
More...
October 19, 2008:
LiveJournal.com: A liberal witch hunt in court jester clothing, certain to have Charles Dickens roll over in his grave. An American Carol: Huh?! Cinema at its foulest.
More...
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