Self-proclaimed "9/11 republican" David Zucker returns with an ideological comedy that harshly and unsuccessfully uses the trademark zaniness of his Airplane and Naked Gun franchises with a serious-as-cancer, right-leaning political message. Most of the jokes that elicit even a chuckle are through in the first 15 minutes, and what we're left with is the flimsy story of terrorist-enabling freedom-hating documentarian Michael Malone being visited by a series of historical figures and ghosts.
The vehicle goes off the rails with its weak broadness, which may work with less incendiary subject matter, but when we’re treated to images of Neville Chamberlain helping Hitler cut the ribbon on Auschwitz’s grand opening, it feels like we’re watching a series of shabby live-action editorial cartoons: the likes of Washington, Patton and the Angel of Death (played by Jon Voight, Kelsey Grammer and Trace Adkins, respectively) are treated with a reverence that works against generating laughs, while the slavery, Holocaust and 9/11 references are either ham-handed, mawkish or awkwardly unfunny. It’s not the performances that undo the film, it’s the overall grasping-at-straws feel. Still, as a rare agenda-driven farce, it’s an object of some curiosity.