An American Carol - The Review

The Mrs. and I went to an early showing of An American Carol. The theater was maybe 1/4 full and if the crowd had been a church, my wife and I would have been the youth department. This movie will tend to draw older crowds. The Obama youth won't be found anywhere near it.

If you're a conservative who pays attention to politics, you'll enjoy it. It has some very funny moments, and the whole movie is a send-up of every liberal ideal and conspiracy theory you can think of. If you're a liberal, you'll hate it because it mocks everything you believe and hold dear. You certainly won't understand the humor.

The movie stays pretty true to the Scrooge story, with various twists and turns. Kevin Farley makes a pretty good Michael Moore. Kelsey Grammer plays Gen. George Patton, Chriss Anglin plays John F. Kennedy, Jon Voight plays George Washington, and country star Trace Adkins plays "the angel of freakin' death, you turdhead".

There are cameos from a whole host of other stars, including Paris Hilton, Dennis Hopper, James Woods, David Alan Grier, Gary Coleman, Leslie Neilson, Fred Travalina, and John O'Hurley, who we recently saw in Spamalot in Las Vegas. Every one of the folks who appeared in this movie have placed their careers in jeopardy given Hollywood's hatred of all things conservative.

Unlike other David Zucker movies such as Airplane! or the Naked Gun series, there is definitely a message in this movie. It is intensely pro troops and pro war on terror. The various spirits, in addition to mocking a host of liberal ideologies, teach Farley's character that we're in a real war against bad people, 9/11 was not our fault, and our troops are fighting to keep us safe.

Is it laugh-out-loud funny all the way through? No. In fact there were two moments in the movie in which I actually teared up. I don't want to spoil the scenes for you, but the 9/11 scene is surprisingly moving as is a portion of the final Madison Square Garden scene.

Should you go see it? Yes, and do it this weekend. I think there's a message in this movie that needs to be heard, and the best way to get it heard is for it to outperform expectations at the box office and get some much-needed media attention.