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An American Carol

A dissent-bashing tale
By BETSY SHERMAN  |  October 9, 2008
1.0 1.0 Stars

AnAmericanCarol_inside.jpg

A Michael Moore–esque documentarian changes his stars and stripes after trying to abolish the Fourth of July in David (Airplane!) Zucker’s indictment of a “September 10” world view among lefties. When Cannes darling Michael Malone (Kevin Farley) is hired to make a feature by Islamic terrorists posing as producers, Malone’s hero, JFK (stepping out from the TV), castigates him and calls on three spirits to set him Right: Kelsey Grammer as a smug General Patton, Jon Voight as an animatronic George Washington, and singer Trace Adkins as a cowboy Angel of Death. As ex-liberal Zucker throws anti-war protesters (sheep!), ACLU lawyers (zombies!), and professors (hippies!) into the deep-frier, I wanted to cut-and-run to the comfort of www.sweetjesusihatebilloreilly.com. (O’Reilly has a cameo.) Using sledgehammer gags in the service of a dissent-bashing tale, Zucker aims for the flag-waving brio of Warner Bros. cartoons during World War II, but he succeeds only in ruining Farley’s big break. 83 minutes | Boston Common + Fresh Pond + Suburbs

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  Topics: Reviews , An American Carol , David Zucker , Michael Malone ,  More more >
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