I’ve never even seen Les Miz, but you gotta love these kind of scenes so ably played tribute to above by Neil Patrick Harris (dubbed NPH by the fan base, I’ve noted) and Jason Segal. I certainly would’ve enjoyed the final Wright-Obama contretemps resolution a lot more if it had been conducted in song.

Oh, and just so I can ease back into the film blogging thing here at FtY, I saw Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanomo Bay last night. Not nearly as good as the first one — and I’d once hoped it might actually be better — but still watchable. John Cho and Kal Penn can act…considering that it did pretty well, it looks like they might get the opportunity, and let’s hope some of the time it’s in roles that don’t hinge on their ethnicity, for a change. And, I need to add in light of certain cinematic events, a hearty “NPH lives!”….

…Particularly in light of his upcoming Internet musical starring role. EW’s Popwatch has a very funny and slightly informative video interview. H/t Whedonesque.

Yeah, I know I haven’t been posting. Blame it on distraction, laziness, other work that needs to be done, etc. I plan to be laying some more on you folks shortly, but this bit of political cross-promotion got my attention in a big way.

In case you didn’t know, today marks an international day of protest (and why can’t I find my single orange shirt, a very styling guayabera, today of all days??!!) against the ongoing travesty of Guantanamo Bay. What’s funny is that, I think, there’s a subtle movie-tie happening via the release of the trailer for Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. Or, maybe it was just a coincidence that I happened across this link to the trailer on Yahoo! Movies today, but I’m hoping not. What it lacks in taste in more than makes up for in chutzpah. (Did they just announce the title officially today? Anyone know?)

Could this film be the next Duck Soup combining the silliest comedy and the sharpest satire? It’s too much to hope for, but who knows? I applaud the tie-in and the trailer made me guffaw a few times, and maybe that’s enough.

Ironically, though it has a few extra great jokes and a attractive naked rear-end, the red-band trailer available at the official H&K web site was less funny probably because it was allowed to be more raunchy and scatological. (I dislike poop humor unless, and I know this sounds weird to some of you, there’s a larger purpose to it — but that’s another blog post.) Also, a casting issue: what’s with the guy playing W? He looks nothing like him and Jon Stewart does a better impression. On the other hand, Rob Cordry and Ed Helms look perfectly at home.

Aw, who cares, this stuff makes me laugh — and clearly the intention is to put, if not a sharp stick, then at least a q-tip in the eye of the Bush Administration’s war on the rule of law. And, maybe, there’s a note of a cautionary tale in their someplace…maybe.

Which is sad, because American Dreamz is a not at all a bad film. It might have done better as it does have three of four fairly large stars and a simple enough premise — a Bush-like President (Dennis Quaid), a calculating karoake singer (Mandy Moore) and a would-be terrorist (Sam Golzari, not one of the large stars, though he should be) all wind on the set of an American Idol-like television sensation hosted by a borderline-evil Brit (Hugh Grant) who, if I ever bothered to watch reality television, I would probably recognize as a stand-in for that Simon Cowell guy.

I guess somewhere between the mixed reviews, the oddly unimpressive trailers, and the whole issue of funny terrorists five years post 9/11, the public decided to look elsewhere this weekend. It actually might have helped if rightwingers had bothered to attack it.

Still, I found this movie consistently funny and I encourage folks to consider checking it out sooner or later. Like a labrador puppy that really wants to be a fox, this movie is way too nice to be a real satire, but it is funny and intriguing in its essential niceness.

This movie portrays a world in which a would-be terrorist is a sweetheart, George W. Bush is nothing but a kindly, well-intentioned dunderhead, and even a Dick Cheny/Karl Rove amalgam (Willem Dafoe, finding his inner straightman) and Simon Cowell have their likable sides. It’s a fantasy.

Some of this may be genorisity of spirit and it may also reflect some good cinematic influences. Writer-director Paul Weitz earned my eternal sympathy when I read how he once put some friends to sleep by trying to make them watch The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (I can relate…though I usually put my friends to sleep just by talking about movies).

I don’t know whether Weitz was even contemplating the level of complexity of a Pressberger/Powell or Jean Renoir ensemble film in which everyone “has their reasons,” but I like to think he might have enjoyed a brief delusion of grandeur. (You gotta have a delusion to make a delusion come true!)

I do know that there’s enough material for a miniseries here…and I really think American Dreamz might have more worked better in that format. There are enough outstanding comic performances here to power several good hours of HBO level television. Apart from acting institutions like Quaid, Dafoe, and Grant, Sam Kolzari generates real sympathy and suspense as the shmoe/terrorist. But, just as important, it has one of the strongest comedy benches in recent memory.

It’s a digression, but it was especially great to see Shohreh Aghdashloo (who broke my freaking heart in House of Sand and Fog) and John Cho (who broke none of my body parts but was nevertheless very, very good in both Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and Better Luck Tomorrow). And, while they didn’t have any scenes together that I recall, I’d pay to see young Cho and fiftyish-Aghdashloo together in a film. Harold and Nazneen Go to Zankou Chicken? Works for me.

Anyhow, I really hope that American Dreamz picks up a little in its second weekend, or at least does better later on. I like movies that try.