American Dreamz

American Dreamz
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Paul Weitz
Produced by	Paul Weitz Chris Weitz
Written by	Paul Weitz
Starring	Hugh Grant Dennis Quaid Marcia Gay Harden Willem Dafoe Mandy Moore Sam Golzari Chris Klein Jennifer Coolidge Seth Meyers Tony Yalda Noureen DeWulf Shohreh Aghdashloo
Music by	Stephen Trask
Cinematography	Robert Elswit
Edited by	Myron I. Kerstein
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	April 21, 2006
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$17 million
Box office	$16,458,459

American Dreamz is a 2006 comedy film that satirizes both American politics and popular entertainment.

Director/producer/writer Paul Weitz has stated that the movie is meant to satirize both the TV show American Idol and the Bush Administration. Reviews were lukewarm and business was disappointing.

The roman à clef movie boasts characters who are parody versions of President George W. Bush, then-American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson, Vice President Dick Cheney, and television personality Simon Cowell.

On the morning after his re-election, US President Joseph Staton (Dennis Quaid) decides to read the newspaper for the first time in four years. This starts him down a slippery slope. He begins reading obsessively, reexamining his "black-and-white" view of the world in a more "gray-seeming" way, and holing up in his bedroom in his pajamas. Frightened by the President's apparent nervous breakdown, his Chief of Staff (Willem Dafoe) pushes him back into the spotlight, booking him as a guest judge on the television ratings juggernaut (and the President's personal favorite), the weekly talent show American Dreamz, a show similar in format to the modern-day American Idol. America cannot seem to get enough of American Dreamz, hosted by self-aggrandizing, self-loathing Martin Tweed (Hugh Grant), ever on the lookout for the next insta-celebrity. His latest crop of hopefuls includes Sally Kendoo (Mandy Moore), a conniving steel magnolia with a devoted, dopey veteran boyfriend William Williams (Chris Klein), and Omer Obeidi (Sam Golzari).