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| America: Imagine the World Without Her | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Dinesh D'Souza John Sullivan |
| Written by | Dinesh D'Souza |
| Produced by | Dinesh D'Souza Gerald R. Molen |
| Starring | Dinesh D'Souza |
| Music by | Bryan E. Miller |
| Distributed by | Lionsgate Films |
| Release date |
|
| Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $11,421,052 |
America is a 2014 documentary film based on a book by Dinesh D'Souza exploring his concept of what the world might look like without America and critically examining some of the frequent rhetorical complaints about the country. D'Souza executive produced and co-directed with John Sullivan. Gerald R. Molen also produced.
Cast
- Dinesh D'Souza – himself
- Don Taylor – President Abraham Lincoln
- Michelle Swink – Mary Todd Lincoln
- Josh Bonzie – Frederick Douglass
- Janitta Swain – Madame C. J. Walker
- Rett Terrell – Alexis de Toqueville
- Russell W. Reed – Actor at Ford's Theatre
- John Koopman – George Washington
- Tina Fortune – Hispanic worker
- Casey Allen – Crew member
- Rodney Luis Aquino – Hernan Cortes
- Joey Arguello – East Indian
- Michael D. Arite – Major Henry Rathbone
- Oscar Azul – Officer
- Andrew Baker – Lucayan Indian
- Chad Baker – Gustave de Beaumont
- Katy Baker – Audience member at Lincoln-Douglas debate
- Diana Baracaldo – Lucayan Indian
- Mateo Baracaldo – Lucayan Indian
- Chris Barber – Middle Eastern Sheik
- Crystal Barragan – East Indian Lucayan Indian
- Brian Rubright – Priest
- Rich Bentz – Saul D. Alinsky
Release and box office
The film was put in wide release on July 2. It finished #11 in the weekend box office for July 4 through 6 grossing $2,743,753 for a total gross of $5,352,705 after its opening weekend in wide release. The film did not perform as well as D'Souza's earlier film 2016: Obama's America, but by its second weekend of wide release it had become the seventh highest grossing political documentary of all time. Its box office receipts declined by 12.8% in its second wide release weekend from its opening weekend, while the number of screens the movie was shown on was unchanged at 1,105. It dropped one place to #12 in the box office and increased its total gross to $8,211,791. In its third weekend in wide release it retained its #12 ranking, with the number of screens dropping to 1,030 and a 29.9% drop in box office receipts. Its total gross increased to $11,421,052.
Reception
 | This section may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies. Please help to create a more balanced presentation. Discuss and resolve this issue before removing this message. (July 2014) |
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 9% approval rating, based on the reviews of 22 critics. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 14 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". Movie-goer polls conducted by the market research firm CinemaScore showed an average grade from people who viewed the movie as A+ on an A+ to F scale. According to Dave Urbanski of TheBlaze, this A+ rating was an "incredibly rare grade" from viewers.
Writing for RogerEbert.com, Peter Sobczynski wrote "My job is to analyze how the film works in cinematic terms and on that basis, D'Souza and co-director John Sullivan...have failed miserably. It looks terrible, it plods along with all the verve of a PowerPoint presentation, the occasional dramatic recreations are exceptionally cheesy and the interview footage is so needlessly over-edited that you get the feeling that something may have gotten changed around in the cutting room.".
Breitbart editor Ben Shapiro responded to the negative reviews by saying, “The critics who judge film are wildly left. That’s obvious from their glowing reviews for any leftist film with even the mildest touch of art; it’s glaringly obvious from their reviews of Dinesh D’Souza’s latest documentary, America...It is absurd to have movie critics critiquing the politics of documentaries professionally; they seem unable to separate their artistic sensibilities from their political ones. Conservatives are routinely accused not having enough a sense of humor when they criticize Jon Stewart as a partisan hack (which he is), yet leftist critics are taken at face value when they dismiss D’Souza’s work because they hate his politics.”
After receiving a poor review from Reuters headlined "To celebrate the Fourth of July, don’t go see this movie", where the author wrote "I wouldn’t ordinarily dignify such nonsense with a column, but America the movie exemplifies everything that's wrong about the American political conversation these days, rich with examples from both left and right." Gerald R. Molen responded, "I'm used to having my movies critiqued, but to have a reporter actually tell people not to attend a movie is a first. This is the movie world's version of voter suppression efforts in politics. Shameful."
References
- ^ "America (2014)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
- D'Souza, Dinesh (2014). America.
- "America: Imagine the World Without Her". Americathemovie.com. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
- http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2014&wknd=27&p=.htm
- http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=america2014.htm
- Dinesh D'Souza's Doc America Can't Match Box Office Lightning Of His 2016 Obama's America The Wrap.com
- "Documentary - Political". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
- http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2014&wknd=28&p=.htm
- http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2014&wknd=29&p=.htm
- http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/america_imagine_a_world_without_her/
- http://www.metacritic.com/movie/america
- http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3869&p=.htm
- From 1982 to 2011 only 52 movies received an A+ score from CinemaScore. The majority of films surveyed by CinemaScore receive A- to B- ratings. See: "Here's the List of Legendary Films Dinseh D'Souza's America Now Sits Next to Because of the Incredibly Rare Grade Viewers Gave It". The Blaze
- For a listing of the 52 films that have received A+ ratings, see "Why CinemaScore Matters for Box Office". The Hollywood Reporter
- http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/america-2014
- Shapiro, Ben (July 15, 2014). "7 Movies Critics Like Better Than D'Souza's 'America'". Breitbart. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
- http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/07/02/to-celebrate-the-fourth-of-july-dont-go-see-this-movie/
- http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2014/07/03/reuters-blogger-boycott-america