By Becca Johnson - March 10, 2025
A directorial debut from Paul Dektor, starring Peter Dinklage (Elf) and Shirley MacLaine (The Apartment) in the leading roles, American Dreamer is based on a true story from Chicago Public Radio’s This American Life. It follows Phil Loder (Dinklage), a twice-divorced, frustrated and underpaid professor of economics, whose grand dream of home ownership is tragically out of reach. When a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity comes his way, Phil strikes a deal with Astrid Finnelli (MacLaine), a lonely, childless, near-death widow who offers her sprawling estate for pennies. However, Phil quickly learns the deal is too good to be true, and the American dream is not quite what it used to be.
Despite being helmed by a terrific performance from Peter Dinklage who effortlessly commands the screen, American Dreamer’s stark lack of humour and slow, dull plot prevents it from entertaining or impressing.
American Dreamer’s best asset is easily the performances. Peter Dinklage gives quite a layered turn here as Phil, a down-on-his-luck individual scorned by divorces, a low wage and dreams that appear out of his grasp. Balancing the awkward, cringeworthy humor with his characters stark loneliness superbly well, Dinklage has enough power behind him to carry the movie. Starring opposite is the iconic Shirley MacLaine and as expected, the movies best sequences feature the pair interacting. Not quite seeing eye to eye at first but developing a likable bond as the movie progresses, Dinklage and MacLaine ensure that their conversations, interactions and hijinks are as intriguing as they can be. MacLain injects a playful nature into her turn as Astrid that gives the movie some spark, proving that Astrid is no ordinary old lady.
The supporting cast is strong, made up of notable talent including Danny Pudi (Community), Matt Dillon (Asteroid City) and Danny Glover (Saw), but unfortunately, they’re poorly underutilised. Most of the cast are wasted on just two or three short scenes, begging us to question why they were cast for such small, meaningless roles. If you’re pressing play due to excitement to see any of those three, it’s certainly not worth it.
Unfortunately, the performances are all American Dreamer really has going for it. As hard as the cast try, there’s only so much they can do here, as the majority of the characters are totally unlikable - even Dinklage’s Phil. It is hard to root for a character that despite having been through a lot, really doesn’t have anything interesting about him. His loneliness is the only character trait given much exploration, and the characters around him frequently remind him he’s not a great person. Plainly, this is true - he’s not a good guy, nor is he a compelling lead to follow. The same can be said for the rest of the characters, bar perhaps Astrid, who are either selfish, annoying, whiney or somehow a mixture of all three.
There are several times in which the plot almost becomes interesting, and on paper, it sounds worth the watch. However, the execution on most fronts is particularly poor, squashing any intrigue garnered from the plot synopsis or initial setup. The attempts at comedy are poor and repetitive, mostly featuring Dinklage getting drunk, sleeping around, falling out of windows and being shocked at the arrival of guests who appear to be Astrid’s children, even though he believed she had none. Those elements are repeated two or three times apiece, making for a plain, predictable and dull affair lacking any sort of excitement.
The run-time clocks in at just 108 minutes, but due to a particularly slow storyline that really doesn’t have any magic moments or sequences of intrigue, it feels much longer. The only thing it does do well are the scenes between Phil and Astrid that develop their bond, but even this is easy to see coming from the first act. Dinklage’s Phil does get a decent arc with some much-needed development, but this comes too little too late. By the time the pieces start to pay off, most viewers will likely have already checked out.
American Dreamer is a competently cast movie that has a lot of talent in front of the camera, though the filmmaking team don’t seem to know how to use it. Dinklage and MacLaine really try, and supporting performances from Glover and Dillon are always fun, but with a slow meandering plot, unlikeable characters and unfunny gags, American Dreamer is both unmemorable and unimpressive. Its take on the American dream is lazy, under-explored and very bland, there are definitely better examples of that theme out there.
Available on digital platforms March 17
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