AMERICAN DREAMER Review — House Hunting Runs Amok
Lisa Johnson Mandell’s American Dreamer review says this home buying hell comedy is elevated by the soaring virtues of Peter Dinklage and Shirley MacLaine.
You feel a bit of a kinship between The Holdovers and American Dreamer. Both center on curmudgeonly verging on misanthropic educators frustrated by their inability to reach certain goals, and get out of their own way.
In these acquisitive times when society and our peers try desperately to convince us what we should and shouldn’t value, it’s a theme most people can relate to. Both American Dreamer’s Peter Dinklage and The Holdovers‘ Paul Giamatti, are prickly. They make bad decisions. But they’re also relatable and endearing. These tropes never get old.
American Dreamer Review — A relatable plot
Based on a true story from Chicago Public Radio’s This American Life, American Dreamer centers on Phil Loder (Dinklage), an untenured professor whose ultimate dream is to buy a home of his own. Like so many aspiring homeowners in the U.S. today, this goal seems tragically and infuriatingly out of reach.
When he comes across an opportunity to buy a sprawling, waterfront mansion for a pittance, with the caveat that the current owner, a cantankerous and “childless” widow played by Shirley MacLaine, has the right to live there until she dies, Phil can’t help but jump right in—without fully researching the situation.
Of course he soon finds out that this deal is far too good to be true.
It’s an amusing premise, made even more fun by the fact that Phil turns out to be both an effortless lothario and a Laurel and Hardy type stooge whose slapstick clumsiness never ceases to entertain.
MacLaine is divine as always, Matt Dillon puts on a good show, and veterans Danny Glover, Kimberly Quinn and Danny Pudi all do their their rolls justice.
If the storytelling rambles a bit and the timing seems slightly off, freshman director Paul Dektor can be given some slack—he shows potential. His film probably doesn’t go where you expect it to, which is a good thing, and is a game first attempt.
Rated R
1 Hour 46 Minutes
If this American Dreamer review inspires you to see the film, find it in a limited number of theaters, and also on VOD.
Lisa Johnson Mandell’s American Dreamer review says this home buying hell comedy is elevated by the soaring virtues of Peter Dinklage and Shirley MacLaine.
