AMERICAN DREAMER. Directed by Rick Rosenthal; written by Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt; produced by Doug Chapin for CBS/Warner Bros. Starring Jobeth Williams and Tom Conti. Rated PG.
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American Dreamer is a nightmare for people who like their movies to make a minimum of sense. Its pacing is ragged and the timing of even the good gags is off. "Nightmare," I suppose, is a little strong. There are some funny bits. And Williams and Conti are good comedians. But their styles don't mesh well. Their individual charms can't overcome the basic incompatibility.
Williams is Cathy—a mid-American housewife with an active imagination. Her husband (James Staley) is unbelievably dull and insensitive. Her kids are cute, but work a little too hard at it. Then, she wins a trip to Paris by writing a story about romance heroine Rebecca Ryan. Hubby can't take off from work to go, so she goes alone.
After a car accident, she wakes up believing she is Rebecca, and in the middle of a sinister international intrigue. It turns out that there really is a plot, although "Rebecca" has it all turned around. At first it's hard to say why Alan (Conti) tags along. But eventually, of course, he falls in love with her.
Rebecca's stunning clothes look great on the leggy Williams. And her various encounters with diplomats and police are funny bits of mistaken identity and coincidence. But her wild, slapstick style (there's a good kitchen disaster scene before she leaves for Paris) clashes audibly with Conti's. His humor is more subtle, relying on facial expressions and using sophisticated dialogue.
It's hard to say, though, whether this mismatch or the movie's pacing does more to turn a funny-sounding story into the disappointment of American Dreamer. Some scenes drag on too long while others are chopped off before their prime.
Then there's sweetly dated flavor to the whole idea. Spy spoofs seem so old-fashioned. I'm certainly not against nostalgia, but I'm not quite ready for the '60's to be treated like this. For those of you old enough to remember the term, it's still just too camp.
November 14, 1984