What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this satire pokes fun at President Bush, American Idol, and Western fears of terrorism (the would-be presidential assassins here are "Arabic" and comic). The film makes the TV show and the presidential administration look equally dishonest. A character cheats on her fiancé. Characters make fun of "white trash." Terrorists carry and fire guns, and plan a suicide bombing; one terrorist says he enjoys torturing people; another character blows himself up to protest his girlfriend's betrayal (you don't see explosion or deaths). In Iraq, a character is barely shot (grazed) and sent home on his first day. Characters drink beer and wine, and the First Lady takes pills for depression.
- Families can talk about the function of satire. How can making fun of something provide critique or even suggest ways to change? How do this movie's particular parodies touch on broader themes, such as corruption, commercialism, cynicism? Does it matter that American Idol might be fixed, if it is designed to be entertainment?