Jeff Dunham s Achmed Saves America
Animated 60 minutes
Comedy Central 2014
I sometimes find Jeff Dunham a little racist so I was quite skeptical about the one-hour animated Achmed Saves America. Turns out this is a fun cartoon with quite a few good jabs targeted at white Americans, some rather imaginative jokes, pointed referential humor (my favorite is when Achmed says he is writing writes life in small town America “like the kind by that famous suicide instigator Garrison Keillor”, some great sight gags, and some very funny lines like “If you’re white you can get away with anything.”
Achmed Saves America opens with how Achmed became a dead terrorist. There is a nice nod to the Wile E Coyote cartoons. He then literally lands in America. The Wilson family runs into him and of course mistakes him for a French exchange student (the French hate America sooo…..). The Wilsons and the residents of Americaville win him over after a couple of odd musical numbers.
Just when things are going great, Achmed’s true identity is revealed. Things go a bit downhill after that.
Plot wise this cartoon is rather messy. There are some great scenes connected by rather weak ones. Even for a cartoon, there is not a lot that really makes sense. It is still quite fun to watch though, more so if you are a Dunham fan.
Look for a cameo by Walter in the last third of this cartoon.
Achmed Saves America is appropriately rated PG for a couple of good reasons.
The special feature is a Making Of. There is also a commentary by Jeff Dunham and a few other people.