On the morning of his reelection, President Joe Staton (Dennis Quaid) decides to read the newspaper for the first time in four years, starting him down a slippery slope in the eyes of both his doting First Lady (Marcia Gay Harden) and his manipulative Chief of Staff (Willem Dafoe). Holed up in pajamas in his bedroom, the President begins obsessively reading and reexamining his formerly black-and-white view of the world, shocked at what he is discovering. Frightened by his boss’ apparent nervous breakdown—and plummeting approval rating—the Chief pushes him back into the spotlight by booking him as a guest judge on a TV ratings beast: weekly talent show “American Dreamz.”

America just can’t seem to get enough of “American Dreamz,” hosted by self-aggrandizing, self-loathing Martin Tweed (Hugh Grant), ever on the lookout for the next insta-celebrity. Tired of the same boring guests season after season, Tweed decides to up this year’s ante by recruiting a crop of bizarre hopefuls that includes Sally (Mandy Moore), a conniving steel magnolia with a devoted, dopey veteran boyfriend (Chris Klein) and fame-obsessed momager Martha (Jennifer Coolidge); Omer (SAM GOLZARI), a recent immigrant and bumbling, show-tune singing / would-be terrorist awaiting activation; and Sholem (ADAM BUSCH), an Orthodox cantor whose goofy raps were tailor-made for unscripted television.
Guided to the final round by Tweed, his show producers Accordo and Ittles (Judy Greer and John Cho) and her eat-his-own-young agent Chet (Seth Meyers), Sally manages to claw her way to the center of the nation’s conscience—only to find her path to winning “American Dreamz” threatened by lovable immigrant Omer.

A reluctant contestant who just wants to fit in his new home country, Omer is told by his secret terrorist training camp operatives to make his way to the finals and detonate a bomb that will destroy the increased-approval-rating-seeking guest judge President Staton—thereby striking a blow to both the bull’s-eye of hedonistic American culture and political stability in our region.