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2014 American film
| America | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Dinesh D'Souza John Sullivan |
| Written by | Dinesh D'Souza John Sullivan Bruce Schooley |
| Produced by | Dinesh D'Souza Gerald R. Molen |
| Starring | Dinesh D'Souza |
| Edited by | Dinesh D'Souza |
| Music by | Bryan E. Miller |
| Distributed by | Lionsgate |
| Release date |
|
| Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $13,214,000 |
America is a 2014 American 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 was executive producer and co-directed with John Sullivan. Gerald R. Molen also produced.
Synopsis
Setting the stage for a presentation of their views, D'Souza and Sullivan provide an alternate history in which George Washington is killed during the Revolutionary War.
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
The film was given a 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. The number of screens dropped considerably in its fourth weekend to 760.
Critical response
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Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes listed the film as receiving a 9% approval rating, based on a count of 22 reviews; the general consensus states: "Passionate but poorly constructed, America preaches to the choir." On the review aggregator Metacritic, the film has a score of 14 out of 100, based on 11 critics (indicating "overwhelming dislike"). A reviewer at RogerEbert.com gave the film one star, writing " 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."
Other responses
Jim Gaines of Reuters recommended against watching the film, writing: "...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...."
Market research firm CinemaScore polled the audience at the film's opening and computed a rating of A+ on a scale of A+ to F.
References
- ^ "America (2014)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
- D'Souza, Dinesh (2014). America.
- "America: Imagine the World Without Her". Americathemovie.com. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
- Buchanan, Jason. "Synopsis". Fandango.com. Rovi.
- Weekend Box Office Results for July 4–6, 2014 – Box Office Mojo
- America (2014) (2014) – Box Office Mojo
- 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 July 15, 2014.
- Weekend Box Office Results for July 11–13, 2014 – Box Office Mojo
- Weekend Box Office Results for July 18–20, 2014 – Box Office Mojo
- http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2014&wknd=30&p=.htm
- "America". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster, Inc.
- "America". Metacritic.com. CBS Interactive.
- Peter Sobczynski (July 2, 2014). Review: America, Ebert Digital, LLC
- Jim Gaines (July 2, 2014). "To celebrate the Fourth of July, don't see this movie". Reuters.com.
- Christian Toto (July 3, 2014). "Reuters Blogger: Boycott D'Souza's 'America'". Breitbart.com.
- Weekend Report: 'Transformers' Repeats On Weak Independence Day Weekend – Box Office Mojo
- Cinemascore website description of its methodology. http://www.cinemascore.com/aboutus