An American Carol

Infobox Film
name = An American Carol


caption = Theatrical release poster
director = David Zucker
producer = David Zucker
Stephen McEveety
John Shepherd
writer = David Zucker
Myrna Sokoloff
starring = Kevin Farley
Kelsey Grammer
Jon Voight
Dennis Hopper
Leslie Nielsen
Jillian Murray
music = James L. Venable
cinematography = Brian Baugh
editing = Vashi Nedomansky
distributor = Vivendi Entertainment
released = October 3, 2008
runtime = 83 minutes [ [http://www.fandango.com/anamericancarol_118153/movieoverview An American Carol Movie Overview] ]
country = United States
language = English
budget = $20 million
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.americancarol.com/
amg_id = 1:432368~T0
imdb_id = 1190617

"An American Carol" is a 2008 American comedy film, directed by David Zucker and starring Kevin Farley. Presented from a conservative perspective, the film is a parody of liberal film maker Michael Moore that "lampoons contemporary American culture, particularly Hollywood." [ [http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=42195 An American Carol - ComingSoon.net Film Database ] ] It uses the framework of "A Christmas Carol" but moves the setting of the story from Christmas to Independence Day. The screenplay is written by Myrna Sokoloff and Zucker. The supporting cast includes Kelsey Grammer, Jon Voight, Dennis Hopper, Trace Adkins, Gary Coleman, Jillian Murray and Leslie Nielsen. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190617/ An American Carol (2008) ] ] The film was released on October 3, 2008.

Plot

Left-wing activist and filmmaker Michael Malone (Kevin Farley), a parody of Michael Moore, is campaigning to end the celebration of the Fourth of July. Malone truculently argues that America's past and present are both offensive, and therefore should not be celebrated. Josh Malone, Michael's nephew, is a naval officer about to deploy to the Persian Gulf, but his uncle regards him with contempt. On the evening of July 3rd, President John F. Kennedy steps out of a television set, slaps Michael silly, and tells him that he will be visited by three spirits.

The next morning, Malone is then visited by General George S. Patton (Kelsey Grammer), who tries to make him rethink his view of America. Arguing that sometimes war is necessary for the greater cause, Gen. Patton shows him an alternate world where slavery still exists because Lincoln chose not to fight the Civil War. He also shows the filmmaker how British Prime Minister Chamberlain appeased Adolf Hitler. Malone is also visited by George Washington (Jon Voight) who takes him to the very church in New York where he was sworn in as the first President. Washington tells him how the dust in the church is the dust from the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Shaken but still unmoved, Malone is visited by the Angel of Death (Trace Adkins), who takes him to a future Los Angeles which has been taken over by radical Islamists. To Malone's horror, Victoria's Secret has switched to selling burkhas and the Hollywood Hills are emblasioned with verses from the Koran. Later, he is taken to the ruins of his hometown in Michigan, which has been destroyed by a nuclear bomb planted by Al Qaeda. In a makeshift morgue, a horrified Malone learns that he will be killed in this attack, leaving nothing behind but his trademark hat and enormous rear end. Malone pleads for his life with the Angel, promising to change.

Later, Malone arrives at an anti-Fourth of July protest rally and publically renounces his former views. The outraged protesters call him a traitor and charge the podium intending to murder him. He is rescued, however, by American Servicemen and pulled inside of a country music concert. After barely preventing a terrorist bombing there, he runs to the docks in time to see his nephew Josh off to the Persian Gulf. He tells Josh how very proud he is of him and promises to look in on his wife and family during his deployment.

In the film's end, Malone is a changed man who loves America and realizes how precious freedom is. Taking Patton's advice to advocate American values in film, he begins filming a JFK biopic, which he intends to be far more accurate than Oliver Stone's movie.

Michael Moore's response

The character Michael Malone is a parody of the American filmmaker, author, and political commentator Michael Moore. [ http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-10-01/film/airplane-director-david-zucker-talks-about-the-left-and-his-new-movie-an-american-carol/] On September 5, 2008 Moore was a guest on "Larry King Live" and was shown a clip from the film where Malone (while lying down on his bed, drinking a Big Gulp and watching archival footage of JFK's inaugural address) is startled by Kennedy, who materializes out of Malone's television screen, and confronts him on his misguided views of American history. Moore said that he was vaguely familiar with the film, and then jokingly said he thought it was Viggo Mortensen that would be portraying him. When King asked him his opinion, Moore shrugged and said, "I hope it's funny."

Promotion by conservative media personalities

Even before the scheduled release of the movie, "An American Carol" had been strongly advertised by notable Republicans and conservative-leaning personalities such as Rush Limbaugh, [http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=187903] Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Mark Levin. On October 3, 2008, actors Kevin Farley and Kelsey Grammer appeared on the FOX News program "The O'Reilly Factor" to promote their film of which O'Reilly made a guest appearance. "An American Carol" has also been described by newspapers such as the Dallas Morning News as being "for the right wing". [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-carol_1003gl.ART.State.Edition1.2699bd1.html]

Reception

Critical

The film was not screened for critics. Director David Zucker said this was because the studio did not believe it would get a fair hearing from critics due to its conservative political viewpoint. [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2008/10/are-critics-too.html]

The film currently has a rating of 14% at Rotten Tomatoes (RT) based on 29 critics yet a 74% by the Rotten Tomatoes Community [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/an_american_carol] , and a score of 20 out of 100 at Metacritic based on 12 reviews. [http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/americancarol]

Commercial

"An American Carol" made $3.8 million in its opening weekend, placing it ninth among movies that week. Since it was shown in 1,639 theaters, it had a per-screen average of $2,325 ($3.8 million divided by 1,639). By comparison, the film's diametrically opposite competitor released around the same time, "Religulous", [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-carol_1003gl.ART.State.Edition1.2699bd1.html] was the tenth-ranked movie, grossing $3.5 million in just 502 theaters, an average of $6,972 per screen. [http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2008&wknd=40&p=.htm] However, the "Religulous" receipts were collected over a five-day period (the first two days in New York City and Los Angeles only), while those for "An American Carol" were collected over a three-day period. [http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jb68x_tOGx8QHjI0Cr6C-Vy79OGgD93KG9980] [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117993541.html?categoryid=13&cs=1]

Filmmaker's reaction

As a result of the poor box office showing, the film's website suggested that "ticket fraud" had occurred, where moviegoers had bought tickets for "An American Carol" but had instead been given tickets to see another film in an attempt to artificially minimize the film's box office draw. The page has since been taken down. [http://filmdrunk.uproxx.com/?p=4497]

Cast

*Kevin Farley as Michael Malone
*Kelsey Grammer as General George S. Patton
*Serdar Kalsin as Ahmed
*Robert Davi as Aziz
*Jon Voight as President George Washington
*Paris Hilton as Herself
*James Woods as Michael's agent
*Chriss Anglin as John F. Kennedy
*Leslie Nielsen as Himself / Grampa
*Jillian Murray as Heather
*Simon Rex as Himself
*Dennis Hopper as The Judge
*Kevin Sorbo as George Mulrooney
*Travis Schuldt as Josh
*Trace Adkins as Himself/The Angel of Death
*Bill O'Reilly as Himself
*Gary Coleman as Slave
*Benton Jennings as Adolf Hitler
*Christopher McDonald as Lab Technician #1
* Karri Turner as Lab Technician #2

References

*http://www.movieweb.com/news/16/26716.php

External links

* [http://www.7trailers.com/an-american-carol "An American Carol" Trailer]
* [http://americancarol.com/ "An American Carol" official website]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190617/ "An American Carol"] at IMDb
* [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/an_american_carol/ "An American Carol"] at Rotten Tomatoes
*" [http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/americancarol An American Carol] " at Metacritic