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An American Carol is a 2008 American comedy film, directed by David Zucker and starring Kevin Farley. Outside North America, the film is known as Big Fat Important Movie.[3][4] Presented from a conservative perspective, the film is a parody of liberal filmmaker Michael Moore that "lampoons contemporary American culture, particularly Hollywood."[5] It uses the framework of A Christmas Carol but moves the setting of the story from Christmas to Independence Day (with a premise similar to the 1939 short Old Glory). 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.[6] The film was released on October 3, 2008.
[edit] PlotLeft-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 an officer in the United States Navy and is about to deploy to the Persian Gulf. His uncle, however, regards him with disgust. On the evening of July 3, President John F. Kennedy steps out of a television set 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, Patton shows him an alternate world where slavery still exists because Abraham Lincoln chose not to fight the Civil War. He also shows the filmmaker how British Prime Minister Chamberlain (Oliver Muirhead) appeased Adolf Hitler (Benton Jennings). However, Michael refuses to even reconsider his leftist views and a despondent Patton apologizes for his failure before the altar of a Manhattan church. To Malone's shock, he learns that the General was addressing the ghost of George Washington (Jon Voight), who reveals that this is the very church where he prayed for his country every day of his Presidency. When Michael comments about the large amount of dust there, Washington opens a door and reveals that it comes from the destruction of 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. Victoria's Secret has switched to selling burqas and the Hollywood Hills are emblazoned 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, Malone learns that he will be killed in this attack, leaving nothing behind but his trademark hat and "big ass". Malone pleads for his life with the Angel, promising to change. Later, Malone arrives at an anti-Fourth of July protest rally and publicly 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 where he is formally welcomed to "the real America". 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. As the film concludes, Malone is a changed man who loves his country 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 more accurate than Oliver Stone's movie. [edit] Michael Moore responseThe character Michael Malone is a parody of the American documentary filmmaker, author, and political commentator Michael Moore.[7] 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." [edit] Promotion by conservative media personalitiesEven before the scheduled release of the movie, An American Carol had been strongly advertised by notable Republicans and conservative personalities such as Rush Limbaugh,[8] 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, in which show host Bill 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".[9] The American Conservative reported, "The movie has been promoted by bloggers on National Review Online. The Leadership Institute, an activist group that maintains contact with College Republicans nationwide, urged its charges to see the movie on opening weekend, even handing out tickets to its interns." [edit] Reception[edit] CriticalThe film was not screened for critics, as director David Zucker said the studio did not believe it would get a fair hearing due to its conservative political viewpoint.[10] However, the Los Angeles Times pointed out that An American Carol received bad reviews from conservative newspapers such as the New York Post and the Washington Times.[10][11][12] Based on 40 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, “An American Carol” currently has a 12% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 3/10.[13] Among Rotten Tomatoes' Top Critics, which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs,[14] the film holds an overall approval rating of 0%.[15] By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 20, based on 12 reviews.[16] An openly Conservative contributor to Ain't it Cool News said the film featured "ingenious comedy that we remember from Airplane!" as well as "funny and inventive."[17] Kathleen Parker of Washington Post Writers Group called the film "'An American Carol' may not be The Best Movie You Ever Saw, but it’s something. It’s radical in its assault on the left wing; it’s brave given the risk of peer ridicule and the potential for career suicide. And it’s funny — if you like that sort of thing. Generally, I don’t."[18] Finally, Steven Rea of The Philadelphia Inquirer gave the movie one star out of five, called it "jaw-droppingly awful," and "about as not-funny as a comedy can get."[19] Lou Lumenick of the New York Post wrote, "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."[1] [edit] CommercialAn American Carol which opened on 1,639 screens nationwide, finished ninth at the box office that week, with a gross of $3.8 million, or a per-screen average of $2,325. For its second weekend, An American Carol had a 58.8 percent drop in box office receipts and dropped to #15, grossing $1,505,000 at 1,621 theaters or $928 per screen.[20] The film faded in the box office in its third weekend dropping 73.8 percent and finishing #21 at 599 theaters grossing $365,000 or $609 per screen.[21] In its fourth weekend, it dropped to #41 at 109 theaters grossing $60,000 or $550 per screen.[22] As of October 2009, An American Carol has grossed $7 million after having a production budget of $20 million.[23] [edit] Reaction to box office resultsZucker, in an interview with National Review Online, had suggested a sequel as his next possible project, but now says he is done making conservative comedies.[24][25] Zucker laments that the audience for this type of film is the type that waits for it to be available on DVD.[24] [edit] DVD and Blu-ray releaseThis film was released on DVD and Blu-ray discs on December 30, 2008 by Vivendi Entertainment.[26] It includes a full length audio commentary by David Zucker and Kevin Farley along with several scenes and footage cut from the theatrical release. Some of these included:
[edit] Cast
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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