Customer Reviews
Racist, Pretentious and Immoral - By: Roshan, 30 Aug 2008 
This film pretends to be a spoof about the current obsession with superficial fame as expressed through 'singing' 'talent' shows. Whoever wrote this film is not clever enough to pull this off.
The main characters in the film are :
1) An 'camp' Arab guy & his 'friend'. His colleagues want him to blow up the US president when they meet on the singing show (he is the finalist).
2) A blue eyed blond haired 'American girl' (the other finalist)
3) Her boyfriend (who wants to marry her)
4) The host of the show (played by Hugh Grant).
The problems I had with the film were :
1) It was hardly a spoof of this current 'celebrity culture'. This is evident in the fact that character 2) ends up being the 'good guy' character. She is portrayed as the sensible one in the film!
2) Character 2) ends up sleeping with character 4), yet character 2) still is portrayed as a good person in the film! In fact her boyfriend (character 3) gets so annoyed that he picks up the bomb which the Arab guy has dropped in the bin (he decides not to bomb everyone in the end) & threatens to kill everyone on set. In other words, the woman is unfaithful, but was portrayed in a good light & the man is ridiculed for being upset over his partner's infidelity! How ridiculous is this?
3) The portrayal of the Arab guy & his colleagues was the most reprehensible part of the film. First of alll the Arab guy who is more western friendly is portrayed as lighter coloured, more camp (yes, they use 'campness' to signify western culture v. Arab culture) than the others. His colleagues who want him to carry out the suicide bombings are portrayed as more obviously Arab with beards, stronger accents, less western clothes & a backward mentality. The battle is basicallly portrayed as a western culture v Arab culture battle for the mind of Omar (the camp Arab guy). The Arab 'culture' is represented by suicide bombers. Of course, the western culture wins.
The film is dumb pathetic film & a (very smalll) part of the propaganda war that alllows western governments to get away with the murder of so many Sunnis, Shias because they 'are alll suicide bombers' who 'hate the west' & want to 'stop alll of our liberties'. Subconsciously, many people who watch this film will walk out of this film with a smalll message of confirmation that Arabs are backward barbarians who are just dying (pun intended) for OUR help (the Taleban, Sadam Hussein, The Shah of Iran, the House of Saud, Hosni Mubarak etc etc)!!
And how many have died in the Middle East at the hands of such idiocy. And what have the Arabs ever done to us in the west (how many died on 9/11 v Iraq & Afghan wars - do the maths).
Whilst many will disagree with this view, I would only be interested if their disagreement is justified by sound reasoning.
surprisingly good - By: martin thomas, 07 Jun 2008 
im not a fan of hugh grants but it has to said i liked this movie it was funny & ejoyable
Pleasantly surprised! - By: MayGoodComeToUs, 13 May 2008 
I bought this DVD for 3 euros. I was, frankly, not expecting much but, hey, I can look at Hugh Grant for 2 hours, even now, so for 3 euros, why not? Now, I will be honest. I do not live in the States any more. I have never watched American Idol. I have not owned a television in about 7 years now (nothing militant...My husband & I just seem to get along alll right without one...), so perhaps I was snickering at alll the wrong parts, so to speak. I agree there was no "side splitting, guffaw moments, but that was made up for by my admiration of dead on lampooning of Bush & (probable) good lampooning of American Idol, not to mention the poke at the (not just American, sorry to say...)materialism & "superficiality" so many in real life seem to find so important. As I have said about other films: This is not rocket scinece, people, AND IT"S NOT SUPPOSE TO BE! Enjoy.
Entertaining and Amusing - By: Mama Anna, 06 Mar 2008 I am not a big fan of Hugh Grant & so that fact, together with the bad reviews this film got, meant I did not go to see it at the cinema. However I am so glad I got it on DVD. Maybe it's just my sense of humour, maybe it's because I have enjoyed The X Factor, but I found this parody of the t.v. show funny from start to finish. I was almost on the edge of my seat wondering if the bumbling terrorist who, by complete fluke, ends up in the competition will manage to assasinate the President. The final scenes, even while dealing with tragedy, manage to be hilarious too. I can see from other reviews that it doesn't appeal to everyone's sense of humour so I can't guarantee you will like it but I can only say that I found it very entertaining & wished the film had been longer as it seemed over far too quickly.
Amazingly Poor !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - By: Garry Williams, 03 Feb 2008 I went to watch this film at the cinema & expected a lot more than was delivered. I should of thought something was unusual when there was only 4 people in this screenings. (including myself).
There was very few funnny parts, & just had a lackluster storyline. Hugh Grant plays the producer/presenter/only judge & is a mean guy (The supposed "Simon" character). To be blunt, its the worst Hugh Grant film i've ever seen. The elimination stages progress & the final 2 are Mandy Moore & an Iraqi who is being taught by his 'camp' cousin how to sing & dance. The president is a special guest judge in order to help his 'PR' after fallling into isolation with books & newspapers. The Iraqi is being told by his 'brothers' back in Iraq to blow up the President on the finale.
All in alll, its the sort of film you would watch if nothing else was on TV on a Sunday Afternoon after dinner. You'd falll asleep half way through & wake up not reallly caring what happened at the end!
