ANTOnline.com - Laguna Films DAFD4001D PRICE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM (DVD)

Customer Reviews

Reviewed on 2008-01-12

Avoid it like the plague
This is quite possibly the worst movie I have ever seen. Not only is the acting bad but the cinematography is atrocious. I generally tend to like Chicano cinema but this is just bad. A serious stinker in my book. Avoid it at all cost

Reviewed on 2007-09-22

Garbage movie
This movie is straight basura. Garbage. If you want to laugh at a low budget crappy latino gangster movie then this movie is for you. I laughed at the MOVIE becuz it was sooo bad that it made me laugh. The fight scene between the brothers was comical they fought each other like Popeye. You should watch this movie with beers and friend and laugh at how bad it is........the artistic brother gets show with a Rifle at the end...yet he survives??? haha what bull.

Reviewed on 2007-06-30

The price is rising
After I garnered my first speaking/supporting role in the feature film entitled "The Price of the American Dream II" a few months ago, I was more than intrigued to at least see what the first one was about. The second was such an independent film made on a tight budget ($100,000) I figured the first one could only compare the same way especially since no one except the filmmakers had heard of it. I remembered seeing bits and pieces of the first in grade school but not much. Despite that, I felt different about this film. There was something about it that drew me in like no other did even though I had no idea of the first. I would later see the future would predict my past.

The Munoz family is in trouble and it isn't the fault of the parents. Christian, one of the sons, has become a gangbanger, Maria, a daughter, has already had two children and parties all the time, Chendo is struggling to learn English, Jackie, the other daughter, spends all her time with her sleazy boyfriend, and the parents are all but losing it over the fact that they should've never come to America. But a glimmer of light is enholding within the youngest son, Meno, who is in hopes of going to college and Laura, who is the goddaughter and wishing to finish up her career wishes in sociology at the local university. The sad thing is despite the dreams that both Laura and Meno hold, no one seems to care.

The Price of the American Dream is such an amazing put together story and equally great film that I kept thinking I was watching a documentary about real people. Indeed, it is very real to some, if not most of us. The portrayal of the Munoz family as nearly all the sons and daughters turning to the evils of the American world while not focusing on the reality of anything, and of course the extreme consequences that follow soon after. Then when some good finally comes into their lives the only ones who can accept it and enjoy it are the ones who really take the bad things to heart because they are the only souls who care. This is Laura and Meno in the film. They try their best to help their family but no one wants to open up enough for them to do so.

Even though I'm a boy, Laura was the one I found I related to the most considering the people I love to be with the most and the only ones who are my real friends all the Mexicans. Yet I see the bad that is happening to them and not WHAT they do. They are subject to so much and even this film typecast them to the point where it was too much on them as the bad people when it's everyone around them. The movie touched incredibly close to home as did the sequel which will come out later this year, but there is good in all which was also a great display in the entirety of the film.

In regards to the film, the acting by the principles is incredibly good. The one who really gave it her heart and soul and pulled through above the rest was Jackie Torres, who was also the director. In the role of Laura, the goddaughter in hopes of making her life in America is the one who must take all of this in. The film is an amazing display of what today's world has become and how we need to change it. If you are human then you will feel this movie. Yes, it's independency may get in the way of most critical people who watch movies everyday but you must see through the somewhat tedious acting from supporting actors and see the good instead...the message and the people in this film who gave it their all and that will shine above everything else.

In regards to The Price of the American Dream II, which I will also be writing a review for when it is released, it is because of part one that I am so proud to be involved in number two. I needed to see it to understand. The second continues to follow our protagonists from the first and creates a great storyline around the struggles that follow despite the success Laura had in the first one with the university. It shows that not all stories have a happy ending but for people a resolution can also be enough. The message behind both movies is that we put ourselves in our own problems and never think to blame ourselves for our own mistakes. Films like these will make you realize just who you are and what you are doing wrong. We need more movies like these.

Reviewed on 2005-10-12

This film is the real deal!
While watching this film, I found myself comparing it to my life and the life of so many of my friends. I totally related to the father who lives here and still seems to live in Mexico, and to the conflicts that brings to those of us who were born here and do not know how to see ourselves. Even though the film did not seem to have the big Hollywood budget, the reality of it (everyone looked and behaved the way my friends and family do in East Los Angeles) made it a great film.

Reviewed on 2005-09-01

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY
I AM A BIG FAN OF " AMERICAN ME " " BLOOD IN BLOOD OUT " ETC. BUT THIS ONE JUST TOTALLY SUCKED!!! IT HAS REALLY CHEESY SOUND EFFECTS AND THE STORY IS WELL NOT AS GOOD AS I THOUGHT. I THINK YOU SHOULD WATCH " SCARFACE " " GOODFELLAS" " GOD FATHER " TRAFFIC " CARLITOS WAY " BLOW " 21 GRAMS " TRAINING DAY " JUST TO SAME A FEW.

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PRICE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM (DVD)

$6.72

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