User reviews

I have to say that I totally disagree with the last comment I read on this movie. I think it's a very funny, well acted comedy. I think I watched it about six times in the last four years and it never fails to crack me up, I've enjoyed it as much the last time as the first time. Jack Lemmon is a great comedy actor and so is James Garner. It splashes of the screen that they had fun playing their parts. They play very well of each other. The script may not be the best written script ever, but it certainly contains a whole bunch of very funny one-liners, as well as a good deal of visual comedy. The casting is good also the supporting roles from Jon Heard, Dan Aykroyd, Wilford Brimley and Lauren Baccal.

All in all it is a very entertaining film, witch I recommend to anyone who is seeking for an evening of letting all tensions gliding of you and having many good laughs.

On a scale 1-10, I give it an 8.

Jack Lemmon and James Garner are in top comedic form in My Fellow Americans. They, respectively, play former President Russell Kramer (Republican) and former President Matt Douglas (Democrat), who have spent the last thirty years hating each others guts. "It's always sad when another good Democrat dies," Douglas says to a Secret Service Agent while on the way to the funeral. "I believe that the deceased was a Republican, sir," he replies. To that, Douglas says, "Oh. Then this might not be so bad."

The current President, Haney (Dan Aykroyd) took kickback while Kramer was president. And Haney's trying to pin them on Kramer. Kramer and Douglas both know about it and Haney's going to try to kill them. When that proves unsucessful, Kramer and Douglas end up stranded alone in the middle of nowhere. So the two people, who loathe each other, must work together to tell thier fellow Americans while seeing the effect of their presidency on the general people.

There are too many political movies. There aren't many political comedies. There are even less raunchy political comedies. In fact, it seems that My Fellow Americans should have been raunchier to warrant an R rating. Peter Segal wanted it to be ribald, but it would have been easier to write for if they didn't have an PG-13 rating in mind, so they could open up the humor a little.

I really like the two leads. They had great chemistry together, I thought they actually hated each other. Lemmon and Garner had a great sense of comedic timing. The movie knew it was a comedy, but tried to take itself in a serious way, which has a great result. Other characters, however, pop up and then leave. Kay Griffin (Sela Ward), the reporter, has about two scenes, and Ben just pops up out of nowhere.

It was extremely funny. Its raunch mixed in with tries-to-take-it-serious humor: "Now, if you'll excuse me, my salad's getting cold." I can't really think of anything else to say.

My Fellow Americans is very funny with great leads. Look for it!

My rating: 8/10

Rated PG-13 for salty language and innuendo.

So many professional actors, so much sophomoric humor. You gotta love it.

"My Fellow Americans" features Jack Lemmon and James Garner as ex-presidents on the run when they discover a cover-up with the present Chief of Staff (Dan Aykroyd) in the middle.

This isn't a movie anyone's going to take seriously, and well they shouldn't. There are lots of moments here that will elicit a laugh or two, maybe three. And what plot there is whizzes by at such a fast pace that there's more time to concentrate on the guffaws.

Lemmon and Garner play their parts as you'd expect. That they go the dumb route is no surprise; in fact, it makes their presence here all the more entertaining. Aykroyd basically plays the heavy here, so there's no real chance for him to generate any laughs. A shame, since he's usually so good at that.

Then there's the fact that real gems like Bacall and Brimley and Ward are just given throw-away parts; it's good to see them, of course, but you'd figure they'd have more to do (especially Bacall!!).

Kudos, though, to John Heard as the dim-witted Vice President. Some of the biggest laughs in this movie (for me) came from him. His eulogy at the funeral scene early in the movie always makes me laugh out, as does his pithy observations such as "Hey, a hat!". Beats me why he isn't in more movies.

As I said, the laughs are there, and if you demand nothing more from a comedy than to laugh, you'll want to do your political duty and rent "My Fellow Americans" - the one movie that insults both parties equally.

Seven stars, plus one extra for putting up an excellent "fakade".

My husband and I both love this movie, for a number of reasons. 1. We are fans of James Garner in particular, and Jack Lemmon also. As other reviewers have noted, they play off each other extremely well. 2. In NJ, we have two former (rival)governors who share a political column. Every time I see this movie, I think of the column, where they share a grudging respect somewhat like the characters in the movie. 3. None of the reviewers have said much about the "king among the commoners" theme. During their cross-country trek, the two former Presidents find out who their "fellow Americans" REALLY are - illegal immigrants, homeless families looking for a job, gay security guards, etc., etc. That's what this movie's REALLY all about. -Earth Mother

Those two old pros, Jack Lemmon and James Garner, in their only film together provide quite a few laughs in what would normally be a very serious subject, a constitutional crisis.

Two former presidents, Lemmon a Republican and Garner a Democrat, have a real nasty rivalry going. But when current president Dan Ackroyd tries to pin a kickback in a defense contract scandal on his fellow Republican Lemmon things get good and nasty. Garner gets into it when he starts checking on which Republican really is the crooked one and stumbles on the murdered defense contractor.

After that when the two presidents are nearly killed when a government helicopter blows up, they are on the run. They are forced into an alliance of convenience.

Despite this description, it is in fact a comedy with these two men who even as ex-Presidents are used to having everything done for them. Quite amusing indeed when they're forced out on their own.

It's funny, but there are some trenchant comments about the state of politics and life in general in America at the turn of the new millennium. Lauren Bacall is in this oh too briefly as Lemmon's wife and Dan Ackroyd is the current president with John Heard as his Dan Quayle like Vice President.

Republican or Democrat most viewers will vote thumbs up for My Fellow Americans.

When this film first came out, the trailers did not interest me in the least. I actually avoided seeing it so as to avoid seeing two cool actors make asses out of themselves (in a bad way). The film was rather poorly marketed, in other words. It looked like Beavis and Butthead with two old guys (in a bad way).

In other words, I'm glad this was the film shown on an Amtrak train a few years back. I think I was laughing harder than anyone else in my car. Frankly, I think a few jokes sailed over people's heads. I remember in particular that the hilarious mispronunciation of "facade" by Dan Ackroyd's clueless VP didn't merit a titter. A few people looked at me oddly when I laughed at it.

This isn't brilliant film-making, mind you. It's simply a vehicle for a lot of very talented comic actors to have fun with some ripe material. It may dip into preachiness now and again, but that is always redeemed ASAP by an entertaining round of rapid-fire bickering.

On an aside, I have to say that I've been in love with Lauren Bacall since I saw The Big Sleep for the first time. It was great to see her in this and even greater to see that she still has a knack for the sharply delivered one-liner. Also, for someone born in the 20s she looks amazing. You heard me right. At 82 years, Lauren Bacall is still hot. Bogie was a very lucky man.

In the 1990s there were a slew of films in which Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau appeared together. The first two were GRUMPY OLD MEN, and it's sequel GRUMPIER OLD MEN, both of which had good box office. Then came THE GRASS HARP, which is technically one of their joint films, but is actually a dramatization of a fine novel by Truman Capote that had an excellent ensemble cast, and that only had one scene with the two actors together. OUT TO SEA was another Lemmon and Matthau romp, and finally came THE ODD COUPLE II, which was a weak (but amusing) sequel.

Technically, between THE GRASS HARP and OUT TO SEA there was to be this film. It was to star Matthau as a Democratic ex-President, whose one term in office was following the one term of his rival, Republican ex-President Lemmon, and both would be followed by Republican incumbent Dan Ackroyd. But Matthau could not be in the film, presumably due to health problems. Instead, his role was filled in by James Garner. Although one likes watching the chemistry of Matthau and Lemmon in their comedies, the substitution of Garner is probably for the best. Garner's character is like Bill Clinton or John Kennedy, a ladies' man type. In fact, his wife is divorcing him during the film (we only see her briefly when he is elected President). Somehow Matthau could not have fit that type of role.

The 1990s also saw several pictures that tackled the problems of the Presidency. The best of these was THE American PRESIDENT, wherein Michael Douglas tries to balance his job's duties, with his performance ratings, and his falling in love with a woman whose political agenda can be used to bash him (Annette Benning). There was also DAVE, which was a variation on an old Akim Tamiroff film THE MAGNIFICENT FRAUD, wherein a double (KEVIN KLINE) finds he must continue to play the role of the President when the President (who is corrupt) has a devastating stroke. There the double finds himself falling in love with the First Lady (SIGOURNEY WEAVER - who reciprocates), and fighting an unscrupulous, power-hungry chief of staff (FRANK LANGELLA). MY FELLOW Americans fits in with this pair of films in continuing the trend.

Lemmon wins his term as President by defeating his Democratic rival Garner. But four years later Garner defeats incumbent Lemmon. But four years after that Garner is defeated by Lemmon's former Vice President Ackroyd. In the third year of his term, Ackroyd is told by his chief of staff, Bradley Whitford (ironically a member on the television series THE WEST WING currently), that a major financial scandal involving Ackroyd is about to be revealed, and will finish him politically. Ackroyd and Whitford decide to kill the scandal by framing Lemmon for taking the bribes involved. But Lemmon is tipped off about the scandal by news reporter Sela Ward (seeking an exclusive), and Garner learns of it from Democratic Party head Wilfrid Brimley (and encouraged to check into it with the possibility of being renominated for the Presidency again). When the key man in the scandal is shot and killed by a rogue CIA man (Everett McGill, in an exceptionally good, creepy performance), the lives of the two ex-Presidents are in danger. They are forced to join forces to prove Ackroyd's perfidy. They are also forced to confront each other and their own failings.

The reason the film works is it forces the audience to think of what is wrong with the political system. The initial ten minutes, with it's rapid turnover of one term Presidents, mouthing the typical clichés, reminds us that our leaders (with rare exceptions) rarely do more than protect their political hides by not doing anything that would really rock things. This is similar to the situation in THE American PRESIDENT where Douglas will not confront his Republican rival, Richard Dreyfus, who is questioning the influence of Benning on the President's policies, and who is willing to make a deal to pass some cosmetic, worthless "crime bill" instead of tackling the pro-gun lobby.

In MY FELLOW Americans the moment of truth is when both ex-Presidents learn that their mediocre policies cost a nice family their job and their home. Garner finally shows how fed up he is, towards the end, when he tells Lemmon that he is sick of thinking of how little he really accomplished in the four years he was President, and how he wants to demolish Ackroyd's corrupt administration because it is what the starry eyed believers of Democracy expect their Presidents to do.

The cast was quite in the film, but one wishes Lauren Bacall had had more scenes with Lemmon (her husband in the movie), and that Esther Rolle had been in a few more scenes as the White House cook. But otherwise it is a good Garner/Lemmon comedy, even though it was to have been a Matthau/Lemmon film.

What a mess of a movie. I can't remember the last time I saw so many otherwise enjoyable actors rendered so much less fun to watch by incompetent direction and a mediocre script. The gimmick is that Lemmon and Garner are ex-Presidents, see, and Lemmon is the conservative who acts like a liberal and Garner is the liberal who acts like a conservative and they get stranded together and hijincks ensue and they learn important life lessons from their constituents and oh what the heck ever.

I'm not saying it couldn't have been done well -- only that it wasn't in this case. "Wag the Dog," "Bob Roberts," "The American President," and the real-life Presidency of George W. Bush are all superior efforts when it comes to relatively recent features that satirize the White House.

We just happened upon this movie a couple of years ago when looking for some movies to rent. Somehow we had missed it when the movie had been released and it was new to us. We figured with Jack Lemmon and James Garner it couldn't be too bad.

We thoroughtly enjoyed the movie and think it is one of the funniest movies around. Lemmon and Garner play against one another perfectly. After seeing it the first time, we went ahead and purchased the movie. We have watched it more than a few times and have never grown tired of it. There are some favorite scenes that we still laugh about even thought we know what is coming.

We highly recommend this movie to anyone who is the mood for some good laughs and even some thoughtful moments. You might not want children to see this because of language and a couple of scenes in bedrooms.

This movie shows what a funny film is supposed to be like. I like this movie because of its unique way of making us laugh, their way of making the script and how everything came together to make this movie one of my favorites original films.

The selection of the actors was great. Jack Lemmon play his role really well and so did James Garner. They are both great actors and they clearly show that in this movie. What I also like about the movie is that it can be a movie not only for those who like comedy but also for those who don't. This movie is really just a movie that everyone can enjoy.

Barely entertaining, extremely thin, predictable "comedy" with occasional heartstring pulls thrown in inexplicably. Everybody learns something valuable, good guys are good, bad guys are bad, and the ending is exactly what you'd expect.

Jack Lemmon is decent in his role. Dan Ackroyd plays The Dan Ackroyd character, this time with an occasionally shifting Southern accent. James Garner was best cast and did the most with his character. His comedic timing was spot-on, particularly when one considers the weak material he worked with.

I normally don't note special effects because I don't really care about them, but there's a scene with characters on horseback that is so unbelievably bad in execution that it might as well have been puppets.

The bloopers on the DVD are worth watching, if only to get a sense of what it must be like to work with Lemmon and Garner. I found Garner's ability to maintain character impressive! But this is not a picture I need to see again.

I was very impressed with MY FELLOW AMERICANS the first time I watched it. I was expecting the film to be horrid as it starred Jack Lemmon (which is great) but had James Garner in place of Walter Matthau. I thought this might create a problem, but no.

The story is very fresh and original and the dialogue is witty and the film is filled with a biting sense of sarcasm. It is a touching film at that as well, because it teaches good life lessons about how you should not waste your time and just get right to living. The film has violence and action sequences (explosions, gun shots) that almost make it seem like an action comedy. But, no this is no action comedy. Just a good clean, fun comedy.

The role played by James Garner is very well written and it seems that his role was written with Matthau in mind. But, Garner takes his place well and the film would not have been the same without him. Truly hilarious. MY FELLOW AMERICANS: 4/5.

It was better than I expected with some very funny moments and an excellent cast especially Jack Lemmon and James Garner. Even the many implausible scenes were fun to watch (secret service agents stumped by the equivalent of "look over there", and former presidents walking through Union Station unnoticed as long as they wear a trench coat). The only disappointment was that Lauren Bacall had such a slight role. Still it was very enjoyable and Lemmon and Garner are predictably great together.

"My Fellow Americans" puts Jack Lemmon opposite of James Garner instead of his familiar screen foe: Walter Matthau. It didn't have quite the same magic, but it was close.

Jack Lemmon played ex-president and Republican, Russell P. Kramer. James Garner played ex-president and Democrat, Matt Douglas. The two of them were lifelong political enemies, but they were going to have to help one another if they wanted to stay alive after witnessing the murder of a well-known defense contractor. If they could prove that Kramer didn't take a kickback on a huge government defense contract, then they could take down the current president, William Haney (Dan Aykroyd) as well as save their own hides.

At times the movie was outright hilarious and always humorous. The whole movie was a delight from beginning to end.

The premise of the film is that current office-holder President William Haney (Dan Ackroyd) was involved in an illegal kick-back scheme, giving contracts to a defense company for cash when he was vice president. To prevent the downfall of Haney's presidency, his assistant Carl Witnaur (Bradley Whitford) creates an ingenious cover-up: pin it on former president Russell Kramer (Jack Lemmon). Now while kick-backs are viewed as essentially like bribes, these transgressions may pale in comparison to the nightmare of a Donald Trump presidency. At this writing, Donald Trump was just elected the 45th president of the United States, and the country's divisive nature is rearing its ugly head with protests against a Trump presidency in several urban centers.

The film essentially veers away from any controversy and is essentially a harmless road-movie comedy. The premise is that because of the cover-up, the forces loyal to Haney are hunting down both former presidents Kramer and his republican rival President Matt Douglas (James Garner), both one-term presidents. They are forced to help each other, traveling to Kramer's presidential library in Cleveland, OH. Lemon as Kramer seems loosely based on President George H.W. Bush, conservative republican, and President Douglas is loosely based on President Bill Clinton, womanizing democrat. The main outcome which is only applied with a sledge-hammer is that the one-term presidents of opposing parties have more in common than they realize.

Similar to many other road films, from "the Silver Streak" with Gene Wilder and Richard Prior in the 1970's to "Get Him to the Greek" starring Russell Brand and Jonah Hill in 2010, "My Fellow Americans" is the tried-and-true formula of two reluctant traveling companions who discover more about one-another than when they were political rivals. They intersect with members of middle America with which they probably wouldn't have ever seen even at campaign rallies, except maybe in issues of The National Enquirer: an obese female trucker, lower-middle class unemployed's, gays and lesbians in a small town, and, my favorite "dykes on bikes".

They learn that there's more to the working lower middle-class than meets the eye but again, it's kind of too obvious for its own good. Inter-spliced with this supposedly "deep" message is a lot of goofy bits. For example, they meet an Elvis impersonator about to board a costume-party train (rings a bit like scenes from "Trading Places"), and he assumes they're actors or impersonators dressed like recent US presidents. In another moment, their car is skewered by a "Jack in the Box" statue at a fast food stop while on the road.

The biggest problem is the film tries to be goofy yet somehow poignant, but it can't make up it's mind as to which road it wants to take. "Primary Colors", a far superior film to "My Fellow Americans" found an excellent balance between comedy and its darker message. In places "Primary Colors" was very funny, but the humor derived from scenes in which real politicians could be imagined engaging in outrageous behavior, such as when John Travolta as Governor Stanton throws his cell phone out of their car and they have to find it in the shrubbery. By contrast, many scenes in "My Fellow Americans" were too outrageous to be believed. The end up in a small town among a gay pride parade, hiding from their would-be assassins. The locals mistakenly believe the two presidents are "coming out". Seems like it would have been easy to go to the local authorities and contact the FBI or Secret Service! However they never seem to be able to acquire any assistance from anyone in Washington while on the road, and the baddies easily find them. One scene I did like was when they finally reach President Kramer's library, and there's a cut-out standing board with Lemmon as a young actor in uniform, supposedly when Kramer was a Second World War soldier.

A decent one-watch but unfortunately a comedy which had much more potential than it realizes. The characters end up appreciating they are "both Americans". Oh brother. The espionage part is kind of interesting, but the road aspect seemed to be long strings of contrived set-up's for crazy comedic moments which were very forced. What silly thing is going to happen to them next? The two leads, Jack Lemmon and James Garner who are heavy-hitting dramatic-comedic talents make it work. In lesser hands it would have been more like a prolonged Saturday Night Live sketch. However, their characters' supposedly rivalry look more like Superman and Batman. The Donald Trump-Hillary Clinton rivalry of the last election ring more of Eleanor Roosevelt versus Dracula.

My Fellow Americans is possibly the funniest movie I have ever seen, and I never get tired of watching it. Funny lines follow each other in rapid succession, and James Garner and Jack Lemon are just perfect as the two ex-presidents who detest each other but are forced to work together to survive, and gradually learn to like each other...more-or-less. A very good supporting cast includes John Heard in a hilarious performance as a Dan Quayle lookalike Vice President, and Wilford Brimley is droll as the Democratic Party Chairman. The sight gags are as funny as the script. Highly recommended--hilarious, with a surprise ending. A must see!

This is what politics should be! Bipartisanship to the max. And anything unpleasant is funny for most of us. Jack Lemmon and James Garner play ex-presidents Russell Kramer and Matt Douglas, who find themselves embroiled in a murder plot and have to go on the lam. Along the way, they keep bickering, and Douglas tells a Mexican immigrant an unsavory story about Kramer (I was twelve when the movie came out, and...well, let's just say that it's the sort of thing that would make a twelve-year-old laugh hysterically). Dan Aykroyd plays Pres. William Haney with all the sliminess that one would associate with a politician.

Among other things, "My Fellow Americans" shows that Lemmon and Garner still could put on great performances even in their elder years, and so could Lauren Bacall, as Kramer's wife Margaret. Admittedly, the whole movie is pretty silly, but there's never a dull moment in any part of it. God bless America!

Jack Lemmon and James Garner are two veteran actors who rarely disappoint with their performances. Their roles in "My Fellow Americans" are no different. They're both solid and professional, they're appropriately and not outrageously funny and they work well together playing former U.S. Presidents Kramer and Douglas respectively. Political rivals, one a Republican and one a Democrat, they loathe each other. Then, unexpectedly, they find themselves thrust into the middle of a scandal revolving around the current President, played by Dan Aykroyd, who sets out to use all the weapons at his disposal to kill them. Forced to team up, Kramer and Douglas are on the run together, searching for the evidence that will exonerate them.

Yes, Lemmon and Garner were good. But the overall story? Well ... It had potential, but I honestly thought it was a bit weak. Somehow, it just didn't reach out and grab me. I found the pace a little off, and the story not entirely clear. It was worth watching, thanks to Lemmon and Garner, but those performances aside, I found this lacking. (5/10)

Well, its close to the time of changing presidents and this movie sprung to my mind to watch. "My Fellow Americans" is a great movie simply due to the team of Jack Lemmon and James Garner. As the two feuding ex-presidents they make this movie. Nothing is more comical than watching the two forced to sort through a recent scandal, along with an assassination plot on their lives, all the while a respect happens between the two, yet their disdain for each other adds to the hilarity of the movie. Lemmon and Garner not only carry the movie, you almost think of them as actually being former Presidents of the United States. It is a movie to just sit back and enjoy, a funny spin on American politics at it's best.

James Garner has become one of my all time favorite actors ever since I saw him in "Maverick" (the movie).

His ironic portrayal of selfish and arrogant ex-prez is the only thing that lifts this movie above average.

As for other actors, I never liked Lemmon, Aykroyd or that guy from Tween Peaks. They are all pretty annoying, but that works well for them in this movie.

I never cared much for the silly plot as I don't care about american politics, I just waited till the run starts. The pursuit itself has some funny moments (immigrant sequence and gay parade sequence), but as in many Hollywood movies about government it gets rather pathetic when the ex-presidents run into a trailer family.

Nevertheless, buddy-buddy scheme works pretty well and convincing here, with annoying Lemmon and appealing Garner as involuntary buddies.

Very uneven comedy/action conspiracy drama. Sometimes they're being hunted and almost murdered, other times stealing cars and spinning out in comedic hilarity. I think it would have been better with Walter Matthau.

Good to see Jack Lemmon again, but not much for him to do as he plays a cheap version of HW Bush/Reagan matched up against Maverick's Clinton/LoverBoy.

The film can't quite decide if it's a comedy or a international spy thriller. The cast is much more apt for comedy. The real fun is when Lemmon and Garner are insulting eachother, really insulting the Presidents they are portraying. Slightly satircal, but not really.

Hadn't seen it till now, and not really improved by seeing.