AN AMERICAN CAROL
An entertaining conservative spoof, but adults should watch with discernment.
Should You Watch It?
AN AMERICAN CAROL is a very entertaining political spoof with a clear point of view. It skewers liberal filmmakers, radical leftists, hippies, peaceniks, and Democrats, while offering stirring patriotic moments and positive references to God. Kevin Farley carries the movie well, and Kelsey Grammer is especially amusing as General George S. Patton.
The cost is substantial. The film contains plenty of crude foul language, including obscenities spoken by children, along with irreverent sexual references and a few homosexual jokes. The humor also includes violence, nudity, and jokes about people’s handicaps.
If you are a discerning adult who can engage its politics without being worn down by its content, this comedy has enough laughs and patriotic energy to merit a viewing. For children and young teens, choose something else.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESMichael Malone is a left-wing documentary filmmaker leading a movement to abolish July Fourth celebrations. While developing a fiction film called FASCIST AMERICA, Malone is visited by President John F. Kennedy, who tells him that three spirits will show him what a great country the United States really is.
The first spirit is General George S. Patton. As Malone encounters these unexpected visitors, he begins to reconsider his knee-jerk liberal politics.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars means AN AMERICAN CAROL is entertaining and funny, though uneven. The movie has a hit-and-miss quality typical of spoofs, but Farley does a good job carrying the story and Grammer is very amusing as General Patton.
Several sequences stand out. ACLU lawyers behaving like horror-movie zombies provide one of the funniest ideas, while jokes about the ideology of Muslim terrorists land well. The movie also includes stirring patriotic scenes, especially when Jon Voight appears as George Washington to give the young filmmaker serious advice.
The fractured fairy-tale narration adds to the comedy. The result is a lively, amusing spoof that does not sustain its best moments throughout.
The Worldview
AN AMERICAN CAROL presents a strong moral worldview with very strong pro-American and strong anti-Communist content. It celebrates the United States, its history, and its military forces, while criticizing liberal and left-wing politics through exaggerated comedy.
The film's conservative political posture is unmistakable. It targets the liberal establishment and Michael Moore-style propaganda documentaries, and it treats left-wing ideology as something that needs correction. Its comic attacks can be broad and irreverent, especially when they involve sexual jokes, vulgarities, lies, and poking fun at people’s handicaps.
The movie also includes light Christian references to churches and faith, along with positive references to God. Still, its moral concerns are presented within a comical setting that sometimes undercuts them through crude language, sexual humor, and obscene gestures. Its patriotic gratitude can align with honoring a nation’s history, but Christian hope must rest in God rather than national identity. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD” (Psalm 33:12).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Strong moral worldview with very strong pro-American and strong anti-Communist content celebrating the USA and its history and military forces, plus some light Christian references to churches and faith and positive references to God, set in a comical context, but with an irreverent tone that includes some vulgarities, including sexual jokes, a few with homosexual references, plus man sees and talks with three ghosts but this could be a dream or a vision within an unbelievable story being told by a crazy grandfather to his grandchildren; about 30 obscenities (including about three in the mouths of children), one strong profanity by a Muslim terrorist and nine light profanities, plus several obscene gestures; some strong comical violence with some blood when people shoot and kill liberal zombies, plus a lot of light slapstick violence; a group of men in uniform line up outside of a woman’s house, implying that she is sexually promiscuous with such men, plus passionate kissing and some other sexual jokes, including a few with homosexual content; upper and rear male nudity in two scenes; alcohol use; no smoking but some brief drug references in a comical setting; and, lying and some poking fun at people’s handicaps.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
The film celebrates the United States and its history. How can you practice gratitude for your country while remembering that your deepest allegiance belongs to God?
Psalm 33:12 · Philippians 3:20Malone is challenged to reconsider his settled political ideas. What helps you test your assumptions honestly rather than simply defending them?
Proverbs 18:17 · Acts 17:11The movie uses comedy to criticize people and movements. When does humor expose foolishness, and when does it become cruel?
Ephesians 4:29 · Proverbs 26:18–19The film includes positive references to God amid an irreverent comic setting. How should Christians pursue truth and holiness in the way they speak and entertain themselves?
Philippians 4:8 · Ephesians 5:3–4The Final Word
AN AMERICAN CAROL has funny moments, strong patriotic scenes, and positive references to God. Its crude language and sexual humor make it unsuitable for children and young teens, but discerning adults may find the spoof worth seeing. Our verdict is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY. For a family-friendly alternative, see.
