American Dreamer is a 2018 American neo-noir thriller film directed by Derrick Borte and written by Derrick Borte and Daniel Forte. The film stars Jim Gaffigan, Robbie Jones, Isabel Arraiza, Tammy Blanchard, Alejandro Hernandez and Brian K. Landis. The film was released on September 20, 2019, by Saban Films.
| American Dreamer | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Derrick Borte |
| Written by |
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| Produced by | Scott Floyd Lochmus |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Eric Hurt |
| Edited by | Soojin Chung |
| Music by | Bryan Senti |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Saban Films |
Release dates |
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Running time | 92 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Plot
editCam (Jim Gaffigan) is an employee for a vehicle for hire company who struggles to make ends meet. Particularly, Cam is having difficulty making child support payments, which could mean losing the ability to see his son. Cam gets the opportunity to chauffeur a low-level drug dealer named Mazz (Robbie Jones) for extra money. However, his increasing financial problems force him to make a rash and desperate decision: kidnap Mazz's infant child and demand a ransom. Cam quickly realizes that he is in way over his head, but there's no turning back.
Cast
edit- Jim Gaffigan as Cam
- Robbie Jones as Mazz
- Isabel Arraiza as Marina
- Tammy Blanchard as Becca
- Alejandro Hernandez as Gumby
- Brian K. Landis as Greg
- Curtis Lyons as Andre
- Eric D. Hill Jr. as Dontrell
- Harrison Fall as Adam
- Cynthia Tademy as Grandmother
- Michael Hughes as Steve
- Tommy Coleman as Officer Watson
Release
editThe film premiered at the LA Film Festival on September 27, 2018.[2] The film was released on September 20, 2019, by Saban Films.[3]
Reception
editOn the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 57% of 14 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6/10.[4] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 40 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[5]
Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half out of four stars and wrote, "Directed with claustrophobic, docudrama-style intensity by Derrick Borte (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Daniel Forte) and featuring a career-best dramatic performance by Gaffigan, American Dreamer is a dark and intense and sometimes brutally violent slice of rotted life."[6]
Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Borte has shown a preference for happy endings in his previous work, but here he embraces the story’s dark implications, and the results, however discomforting, are dramatically satisfying."[1]
References
edit- ^ a b Linden, Sheri (2018-10-08). "'American Dreamer' Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2024-11-20.
- ^ Patrick Hipes (2018-09-25). "[WATCH] 'American Dreamer' Clip: Don't Make Jim Gaffigan Pull This Car Over". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2019-08-04.
- ^ Mancuso, Vinnie (2019-07-31). "American Dreamer Trailer Sees Jim Gaffigan Kidnap a Drug Dealer's Baby". Collider. Retrieved 2019-08-04.
- ^ "American Dreamer". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2024-11-20.
- ^ "American Dreamer". Metacritic. Retrieved 2024-11-20.
- ^ Roeper, Richard (2019-09-20). "'American Dreamer': The best proof yet that, as a dramatic actor, Jim Gaffigan is ready for his closeup". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2024-11-20.
