The Waterkooler

Only in Hollywood would a satire be crafted around American 'paranoia' over Pakistani terrorists seeking to assassinate a U.S. president. (After all, what could be funnnier?) London's News24 reports that writer-director Paul
Weitz's film "American Dreamz" will not be rewritten just because of the London terror bombings, during which 56 Londoners were killed by suicide bombers - some of whom were Pakistani in origin. The film stars Hugh Grant,
Dennis Quaid, Richard Dreyfuss, Willem Dafoe, Chris Klein and Mandy Moore.

Although Weitz's script features Pakistani suicide bombers, Weitz remains unconcerned about portraying the terrorist threat in a humorous light.

"The plot of my film has not changed, nor is a change being contemplated," Weitz said. "The film is a comic examination of our cultural obsessions and how they can anaesthetise us to the actual issues of our day."

We're wondering what Mr. Weitz considers to be the "actual issues of our day," from which our War on Terror "obsessions" are distracting us? [Mr. Weitz, like so many of his Hollywood colleagues, appears to be living in
some post-9/11 version of "The Matrix." May we hazard a guess? Poverty, disease, starvation in the Third World, affordable health care, Malibu wildlife, etc.

We're actually losing our ability to satirize people like Mr. Weitz - because Hollywood itself is becoming self-satirizing. And somewhere Paddy Chayefsky is rolling over in his grave.