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!

Catherine Palmer, (JoBeth Williams) a frustrated housewife who dreams of being a mystery writer enters and wins a contest to write a chapter for an upcoming installment in the Rebecca Ryan detective series.The comedic element is developed once she arrives in Paris though the multiple vehicles of amnesia, mistaken identity, and a madcap roller coaster ride through a steadily thickening plot involving real criminals and real crime.The first time I encountered this movie, I stumbled upon it during the airport scene near the end. Female friends told me this was the worst possible point to start, so I re-watched it from the beginning. It still left a bad taste.Although Kevin Palmer (James Staley) is boring, overly absorbed in his career and inattentive to his wife and her dreams, his 'sins' aren't fleshed out to a point where you really feel he deserves the loss of family and (As unlikely as it seems) the removal of his children to a foreign country.Alan McMann, (Tom Conti) while far more engaging, is a similarly hollow character. Both appear to be simply foils in what is ultimately a very predictable 1980's era girls' empowerment tale.

CBS made a few stabs in the theatrical film market in the early 1980s, though none of their films made a real impact, including "American Dreamer". There are several reasons why I think this movie didn't make a great impression at the time. For one thing, the visual look of this movie looks a great deal like a made-for-TV movie of the time, not a theatrical movie. The direction is flat, and there is seldom a shot in the movie that looks like it took serious time to plan and shoot. Even the Paris backdrop is usually not used to great advantage, shooting in locations that could have been anywhere! The movie also goes on far too long, lasting about 105 minutes long. What makes many of those minutes agonizing to sit through is the main character. In the beginning of the movie she is sympathetic and you are interested to see what will happen to her. However, once she bumps her head and thinks that she is the heroine of the novels she adores, she quickly becomes very annoying. You keep hoping that the male lead will scream at her or slap her in the fact to smarten her up, but he acts like an idiot and never does the logical thing in any situation.As you can see, I didn't like "American Dreamer". However, I acknowledge that there are fans of this movie, judging by the past user comments. These fans all seem to be women who buy the lead character's fantasy throughout the movie. So maybe if you're a woman, you might like this movie. However, if you're a man like me, I strongly urge you to avoid this movie.

This is a movie for anyone who ever dreamed of adventure, anyone who ever dreamed of getting more out of life, or anyone who enjoys watching JoBeth Williams.Cathy Palmer (JoBeth Williams) is about as bored as a housewife can be. Her husband, Kevin (James Staley), is a successful executive who cares more about his job than he does about her. She treasures a secret desire to write detective novels like the ones she enjoys about Rebecca Ryan. Kevin treats her desire with amused condescension and insists that his needs come ahead of her desires. Fortunately, her sons, Kevin, Jr. (Christopher Daniel Barnes) and Karl (Huckleberry Fox), are more sympathetic and help her try to run things the way Kevin Sr. wants them. This unhappy balance changes when Cathy enters a contest to come up with a short story based on the Rebecca Ryan character. To her delight, she wins. To her even greater delight, first prize is a trip to Paris. Delight turns to horror when Kevin insists that she turn down the prize, as it would be unseemly for an executive's wife to go off without him for any extended period of time. Cathy, however, has other ideas, and with her sons' help, she heads off for Paris. Once there, she gets into an accident which renders her unconscious. When she comes to, she thinks she is Rebecca Ryan, and starts behaving as though she were the literary detective. Strangely enough, this leads into an actual case, and along the way she meets French minister Victor Marchand (Giancarlo Giannini), and author Alan McCann (Tom Conti), who actually authors the Rebecca Ryan books under a pseudonym. All is going surprisingly well when Kevin shows up, identifying her as Cathy Palmer, and demanding that she come home. Will she? Or will she stay in Paris and solve the case she has gotten herself into? This movie is a heck of a lot of fun. The pacing is fast, and even when it slows down a bit, it never loses the viewer. The juxtaposition of fantasy and reality works especially well in that you find yourself buying into the fantasy, even though you know it's not real. And there are plenty of surprises waiting for the viewer.The acting is delightful. JoBeth Williams displays an absolute genius for comic acting. Her timing is impeccable. Tom Conti makes a delightful, if a bit unorthodox, leading man. Giancarlo Giannini's suave demeanor works perfectly in his part. Likewise, James Staley's stiffness is perfect for the boring husband. Both Christopher Daniel Barnes and Huckleberry Fox do a nice job of creating boys that you can't help liking. Their loyalty to their mother is touching.All in all, a really fun package, well worth investing the time in.