MY FELLOW AMERICANS
A film review by Adam Joyce
Copyright 1997 Adam Joyce
When a scandal is about to be revealed with the potential to force the U.S. President from his position, a devious plan is put into action whereby two ex-Presidents will take the blame, and for this to happen they must be killed.
It could be a serious political thriller, but it's not. Especially not when you bring Jack Lemmon and James Garner into the picture. Jack Lemmon and James Garner play those two ex-Presidents, one Republican, the other Democrat. It should come as no surprise that they despise one another, with a passion. It is from this animosity that `My Fellow Americans' draws its laughs, because it is after all a comedy.
It had been intended by President Haney (Dan Akroyd) that ex-Presidents Russell Kramer (Jack Lemmon) and Matt Douglas (James Garner) be sent to their deaths in a tragic helicopter accident. Unfortunately for President Haney, Kramer and Douglas demand to be set down on the ground when they discover that their destination is different from that which they had been told, and the unknowing pilots set them down moments before the helicopter explodes. So commences ex-Presidents Kramer's and Douglas's journey across the heartland of the United States, constantly in comical conflict, but relying on each other to escape from the President's hit-men.
As the dubious duo travel cross-country in an attempt to find evidence to prove the White House scandal, they come across all kinds of people, the people who voted for them. This leads to one of the film's sentimental moments where they realise what they didn't do while in office, and are consequently brought back to reality after years of the good life . Despite the serious sounding nature of this realisation, the film is very much a comedy, and features scenes such as the ex-Presidents catching a lift with the `Dykes on Bikes' and travelling with your all-American family in the run-down station wagon.
Throughout the entire film Kramer and Douglas are hunted down by the President's hit-men. In this respect `My Fellow Americans' becomes an action/comedy, swinging from one genre to the other. Comedy should be drawn from the action scenes, but it seems that the director, Peter Segal, has chosen to make some of the action scenes exempt from any comedy. This leaves one wondering, at times, whether the film was in fact meant to be a comedy at all. However, Lemmon and Garner work well together, with competent performances from others - although Lauren Bacall barely puts in a word as Lemmon's wife. The film is entertaining, with plenty of punch lines and derogatory comments like, "Let's stop talking, we're about to bond--that'll make me vomit.". But in the end `My Fellow Americans' is a soft-edged comedy, that is worth a few laughs now but which will never have a permanent place in our minds like `Grumpy Old Men'.
3 out of 5
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