American Dreamer (1984)

Cathy Palmer (JoBeth Williams) is a stay-at-home mom with two kids. Her husband patronizes her when she wins a writing contest for the popular Rebecca Ryan novels. She wins a week in Paris for two but ends up going alone. She gets hit by a car as she chases her purse snatchers. She wakes up with the false personality of Rebecca Ryan. Through a series of contrivances, Cathy gets a wardrobe makeover and mistakes the series' actual writer Alan McMann (Tom Conti) as her fictional sidekick. Soon, the duo is entangled with dangerous realworld intrigue.I've always connected this with 'Romancing the Stone' which came out in the same year. Also JoBeth Williams has the similar older sexy lady vibe and both movies start with a closed-off reserved American woman. There is a switch where JoBeth becomes the dashing character while Tom Conti plays the scared reserved character. This one is not nearly as fun or exciting. The story relies on convenient turns and doesn't necessarily make sense. Tom Conti is a fine actor but nowhere near as charming. The slapstick humor is fine. For me, this will always play second fiddle to RtS. On the other hand, JoBeth Williams really excels. She can play both the housewife but a sassy flamboyant character. She makes this work.

A major key to an excellent film is the chemistry between the leading actors, in American Dreamer, JoBeth Williams and Tom Conti, are simply great together, you sit riveted to your seat watching every turn and twist, and you aren't certain whether you'll be laughing, intrigued or shocked in the following scene.The portrait of the underestimated, under-appreciated housewife, who believes there is more to life than just being patronized is deftly presented. Huckleberry Fox was great in his role of a grown up 6 year old, while Coral Browne provides the lone dose of sobriety to this simply excellent Caper-Comedy romp!I have not seen anything quite this good since!

This movie is lame and boring. It wasn't funny, it wasn't interesting, and the acting and story were just good enough to make this movie incredibly lame. If your a fan of we or lifetime movies you'll be into this. I checked this movie out cause the cover looked really cheesy, but what i got was a little less than mediocre chick flick. The movie really is a waste of time. This movie is not for children. It contains needless violence, some profanity, casual sex scenes (though nothing is shown) and it is a big waste of time. You'll feel like a loser for watching this film. Do not watch this film. It will scar your children for life. There brains will turn into mush if they watch this film. This film is complete and utter crap. I hope it never went to DVD. The dollar I paid at the flea market was way to much for this terrible film. All copies of this film should be burned and erased from history that way mankind can forget that they made such terrible movies at one time. My retina detached shortly after viewing this film. This film represents all the evil mankind. I don't know maybe it's not that bad. On second thought you maybe should get it a try. I think it may grow on you. Wait no it won't cause it's utter crap.

When "American Dreamer" was released in theaters back in 1984, I was working as an usher in Atlanta, at one of the ones lucky enough to have it (it has now long since been replaced by a raft of "big box" stores.) I was a movie lover anyway, which is why I took the job, but this was one of those welcome times when being an usher was anything BUT boring.I have been a longtime JoBeth Williams fan since the POLTERGEIST movies, but this one has to contain one of her most charming performances. She portrays "average" hausfrau Cathy Palmer, with two engaging kids, a real wiener of a husband (James Staley, making suburban caddishness look a little too realistic), and virtually no time at all for herself...except for when she reads about the latest exploits of her favorite mystery novel heroine, "Rebecca Ryan." A budding writer as well (when and if she has time), her imagination is captured when a contest is announced involving her favorite books - write your own short story about Rebecca and win a trip to Paris! And what do you know...she does. Against the snide, sarcastic barbs of her stooge of a spouse, Cathy ends up enjoying her prize alone...and loving it! (Who wouldn't want to sip wine while gazing out at the Champs Elysee?) But the movie really takes off when an accident causes Cathy to have a slight concussion...and when she wakes, she's no longer just a fan of Rebecca Ryan's adventures. She IS her!!!The madcap mayhem that ensues as she embarks on "Rebecca's" latest mystery soon inadvertently involves the stately author of the novels, (Coral Browne, aka Mrs. Vincent Price), the author's charming and befuddled son, Alan (Tom Conti with his bumbling, beaming Brit persona turned up to "11"), and a high-profile politico, (Giancarlo Giannini), whose shady dealings will soon cause fantasy and real-life to blur for Cathy/Rebecca in a way that will turn Paris upside down!Yes, it's a charming trifle, made even more so by the solid performances of its leads. And it also has a wonderful score and a great '80's-style theme song underneath the end credits, so don't shut it off too soon!I think that DREAMER'S strong resemblance to the outstanding ROMANCING THE STONE hurt its chances of being a bigger box-office hit at the time, but if you love romantic adventures and screwball comedy, you shouldn't let anything deter you from enjoying the adventures of a real heroine...and her name is Palmer. Cathy Palmer. (HA! I bet you thought I was going to say "Rebecca"!)