My Fellow Americans (1996)

This is crap, but, honestly, what older American audience is going 
to be able to resist seeing Jack Lemmon and James Garner as bicker-
ing ex-Presidents?  Especially when their supporting players in-
clude Dan Aykroyd as the current Commander in Chief, Lauren Bacall 
as a former First Lady, and John Heard as the Dan Quayle-ish Vice 
President.  Yup, you're talkin' pre-sold property here and, for 
Warner Brothers, the perfect fit into their now-ritual GRUMPY OLD 
MEN holiday slot.  For the non-discriminating viewer, MY FELLOW 
AMERICANS is fine.  The raw star power alone will have audiences 
applauding this atrocious political-thriller road-comedy.  (They 
did in mine, heaven help us.) 

For the rest of us, the movie is immediately tiresome.  The tone is 
terrible and the banter is worse.  Forget wit-- Lemmon and Garner 
merely exchange profanities through most of the movie.  (Has anyone 
counted the number of First Penis references?)  Sure, some of the 
bits are absurdly funny, including a men's room Macarena joke, the 
appearance of an Elvis impersonator on a trainload of Tarheels, and 
an All Dorothy Marching Band performing "Over the Rainbow" at a gay 
men's march.  The get there from here, though, you have to submit 
to one of the most offensively overbearing musical scores of all 
time.  Judas Priest, is there a single moment of silence in this 
film?  Even the dialogue gets drowned out.  What a waste.  (Rated 
"R"/~100 min.) 

Grade: D+

Copyright 1996 by Michael J. Legeros

Originally posted to triangle.movies in MOVIE HELL: December 8, 1996