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R: ARCHIVE, S: REVIEWS, D: 12/26/1996,

My Fellow Americans

Imagine Jimmy Carter calling Gerald Ford (or just about anyone, for that matter) a "dickhead" and the moronic humor of this bomb about two ex-presidents should be abundantly clear. The witless buddy romp pairs Jack Lemmon as a cranky Republican cheapskate and James Garner as a denture-flashing Democratic letch out to expose a cover-up plot within the current administration. In a string of "ain't-that-America" scenarios, the on-the-run rivals clash with the common folk as the film attempts to underscore just how out-of-the-touch the executive branch is. The result is a predictable parade of exploited stereotypes, from drawling yokels to dykes on bikes. When the ex-Oval Office idiots aren't trading Beavis-and-Butthead-inspired digs or bonding over the emptiness of life after 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the film stoops to a kick in the groin, a car chase, a farting baby, and even cracks about the "The First Penis." Of course, no matter how hard My Fellow Americans tries, there's no competing with the real-life high jinks of that wacky White House. Think Ford taking a tumble or Bush puking in Japan. Now that's funny. At the Copley Place, the Chestnut Hill, the Fresh Pond, and in the suburbs.

-- Alicia Potter