American Dreamer Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

American Dreamer Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 17, 2019

The ranks of comedians taking a swing at dramatic roles is a longstanding tradition in the annals of show business, and so it probably shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise that Jim Gaffigan adopts just such a strategy in American Dreamer, though fans of this affable stand up star may know that Gaffigan has already proven his dramatic chops in less central roles in such films as Chappaquiddick. The key art for this film, as evidenced by the cover of this Blu-ray release, arguably makes Gaffigan look like a serial killer, and while I'm not suggesting there aren't deaths and even murders in this film, the actual character Gaffigan plays here has somewhat more "mundane" issues, with Gaffigan getting in touch with his "dark side" portraying Cam, a "ride share" driver. In fact, had this been a comedy offering Gaffigan in his better known milieu, Cam might have made an engaging sidekick for Kamail Nanjiani's similarly employed Stu in Stuber.

Stuber and American Dreamer are perhaps unexpectedly also linked in their underlying premise, which is of one of those "Uber experiences" going astray when the passenger takes the driver on a ride, so to speak. Both films also begin with brief vignettes detailing the weirdly "distant" ambience between a ride share driver and passenger, as well as the implication that the so-called "gig economy" is not a bed of roses. Gaffigan's Cam in this film is a much more troubled character than Nanjiani's addled but still sweet Stu in Stuber, though, with Cam experiencing a kind of midlife crisis that is partly self created but also, as evidenced by Cam's client Mazz (Robbie Jones), impinging on him from without. Cam is shown early in the film to have a completely dysfunctional (ex-)family life, and he's seemingly in need of some pretty significant therapy, so that by the time Mazz, an unrepentantly thuggish dealer, takes over the picture (literally and figuratively), the stage seems to be set from some kind of tragic downfall. Gaffigan is considerably compelling in a difficult role, and the film does have the sort of inexorable pull that classical tragedy often does, but it also has some potent socioeconomic subtext and even some passing references to race and white privilege.

American Dreamer Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

American Dreamer is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Kind of surprisingly for a film of such recent vintage, I haven't been able to track down any technical data on the shoot. This is a presentation that takes place largely at night and/or within the confines of shadowy environments, as can perhaps be made out by several of the screenshots accompanying this review. There's a somewhat milky, hazy look to some of the interiors in particular, though at other times rather severe lighting and/or grading choices also add into the mix, at times to the detriment of overall detail levels. In bright lighting, things look really crisp and extremely well detailed, but unfortunately there simply aren't that many of those moments in this story. Generally speaking though, there's a nice accounting of the at times almost sepia toned palette, and in the many close-ups director Derrick Borte and cinematographer Eric Hurt employ, fine detail levels typically make it through some of the stylistic gauntlets with relative ease.

American Dreamer Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

American Dreamer features a nicely immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, though "showiness" can tend to be intermittent, with many scenes offering more intimate dialogue stretches, often between Gaffigan and Jones. The film does offer a glut of ambient environmental effects (including a huge arching "whoosh" effect that starts the film), and some of the less than savory characters and their exploits provide at least occasional opportunities for some realistic sound effects. Dialogue is always rendered cleanly and clearly on this problem free track.

American Dreamer Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• No Free Rides: Making American Dreamer (1080p; 29:40) is an above average EPK with quite a bit of candid footage and some decent interviews.

American Dreamer Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I think I actually still have an older Gaffigan stand-up comedy Blu-ray in my queue that I'll get to at some point, but American Dreamer is, if nothing else, a testament to Gaffigan's versatility and to a certain feral tendency that lovers of Gaffigan's standup routines may find positively unsettling. I'm not sure the film ever really manages to connect with its evident verité ambitions, perhaps tipping over into hyperbolism toward the end too far for its own good, but Gaffigan and the rest of the cast are often riveting. Technical merits are solid for those considering a purchase.