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'American Dreamz': A comedy of modern culture

Consider these two points on a curve, or a downward spiral, if you will:

Then: Anchor Howard Beale in Paddy Chayefsky's "Network," howling into the storm and telling his audience to get mad as hell.

Now: Hugh Grant as the overly dimpled, narcissistic host of "the most popular show on televison," a singing competition called "American Dreamz." In a temporary moment of honesty, he jauntily tells one of his young contestants, "One can become quite detached from reality when one's famous."

Universal Pictures 'American Dreamz' A- The verdict: Comedy of modern culture shows how deep our shallowness runs. Director: Paul Weitz Starring: Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Mandy Moore, Willem Dafoe, Chris Klein Run time: 115 minutes Release date: April 21, 2006 Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language and some sexual references. See showtimes Meet the director From 'American Pie' to 'American Dreamz,' Paul Weitz stays funny all the way. On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime [an error occurred while processing this directive]

She hears him, loud and clear, and gushes: "That sounds so cool!"

"American Dreamz" is a surprise, like the candy in the Monty Python skit that was chocolate covering up dangerous pieces of metal. It's a cute date movie with adorable Hugh and adorable-r Mandy Moore; even Dennis Quaid as the befuddled president is befuddled in an adorable way. It's also a profoundly subversive movie, however, that takes aim not just at the purveyors of our toxically tacky culture, but at us, the consumers of dumb catchphrases, celebrity magazines and manipulative ads.

Looked at a certain way, it's more subversive than Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11." Moore was mostly preaching to the choir. "American Dreamz" turns to the choir and says, in effect, "You guys are shallow and vapid." And we smile and nod, like little collectible bobblehead dolls.

The main characters are a rogue's gallery of hilarious self-absorption:

President Staton (Quaid) is completely controlled by his handlers, who feed him his lines through an earpiece. Quaid plays Staton as if he's profoundly uncomfortable in his own skin; when he claps for the "Dreamz" contestants, he moves his arms like one of those toy monkeys playing cymbals. Ironically, though, Staton is the only person in the movie who's actually trying to grow, rather than just wallowing in the status quo. Not that that's going to placate the president's fans.

Martin Tweed (Grant) is host of the show "American Dreamz," living the American dream himself: tons of money, fame and power, and a profound aversion to self-inquiry. He breaks up with his girlfriend because she makes him want to be a better person, "and I'm not a better person."

Sally Kendoo would be the soul of "Dreamz," if she had a soul. A small-town, working class girl who dreams of being a star, she's played by Mandy Moore, whose smile is so dazzling and skin so buttery and aura so sweety-sweet that she makes Reese Witherspoon look like Gollum with a hangover. Hence, it's easy to root for her — it's impossible not to — and to forget that you could pack her conscience, her code of ethics and her self-awareness into an Altoids tin and they would still rattle.

And what would a modern laughfest be without Arab terrorists and a plot to assassinate the president? One of the running jokes in "Dreamz" is how easily the terrorists sell out their own holy terror missions; give 'em TiVo and a hot tub and they ditch their sleeper cells like they were kosher kitchens. Like Mel Brooks penning "Springtime for Hitler," the Arab subplot takes what we fear most and mocks it, thus de-fanging it.

But there's plenty of bite to "American Dreamz." Huge credit to writer-director Paul Weitz, who's come a long way from his "American Pie" roots and has crafted a movie that covers a lot of ground, yet is notable for its consistency.

If satire is what closes on Saturday night, as George S. Kaufman said, "Dreamz" may have a rough road commercially. It doesn't have the indie cred of "Thank You for Smoking" (which took on tobacco lobbyists; oooh, gutsy move!) and will upset some folks. But 20 years from now, "Dreamz" will be a fine time capsule of who we are, and of everything that we think is so cool.