Review of American Movie (1999) by Quinto W — 15 Aug 2010

American is the single greatest movie about making a movie about making a movie ever. Period.

It follows Mark Borchardt's rough journey as he tries to accomplish his ultimate dream of making an independent feature film. Until then, he works low-end jobs such as delivering newspapers and being a janitor at a cemetery. Along the way, he is assisted by his friend/ musician Mike Shank, his friend Ken Keen, his mother, his uncle, and many others.

It is very hard to describe a movie like this. At some times, you will find yourself laughing at the silliness of Mark and his friends, and at other times, you will feel sympathetic and sad for him. His whole life is making a feature film, and he is continually set back by a non-dedicated crew, lack of a budget, and pretty much anything else that could go wrong. It is basically a "This is Spinal Tap" or "Anvil the Story of Anvil" of movies. It gets so deep and personal with Mark that it makes you want to purchase his movie just to support him.

To me, it is one of the most quotable movies of all time along with "This is Spinal Tap," "Ghostbusters," and "Waynes World." They mostly come from from Mark's friend Mike. Examples include, "Here's what I think of the lottery. When you play the sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but that's better than using drugs and alcohol, because when you use drugs and alcohol, especially drugs, you always lose." and "I won 50 dollars in the lottery today, but I don't want to tell anybody because then they'll want to borrow money off of me.".

To be honest, the first time I watched this, I didn't like it that much. I though it was alright, but not great. After watching it again, I learned to appreciate Mark's journey, and I began to sympathize with him, along with laugh with them. Since then I have seen it many many times. It's a must watch for anyone who makes films, is interested in making films, or likes films.

5/5.