American Made

R

Released Sep 29, 2017

1 hr. 55 min.

Comedy

Drama

Adventure

TRAILER

for American Made: Trailer 1

List

85%

270 Reviews

Tomatometer

79%

25,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Barry Seal, a TWA pilot, is recruited by the CIA to provide reconnaissance on the burgeoning communist threat in Central America and soon finds himself in charge of one of the biggest covert CIA operations in the history of the United States. The operation spawns the birth of the Medellin cartel and almost brings down the Reagan White House.

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Critics Consensus

American Made's fast-and-loose attitude with its real-life story mirrors the cavalier -- and delightfully watchable -- energy Tom Cruise gives off in the leading role.

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Matthew D

It certainly is a movie starring Tom Cruise. Director Doug Liman’s historical crime comedy American Made (2017) features Tom Cruise really flying a plane and trying his best to give this generic movie some life and personality. American Made is like if Blow was straightforward without all the emotional connections or if Narcos were stupid. Liman’s direction is very bland and only sometimes amusing. Writer Gary Spinelli writes bare bones caricatures of these real figures from the cartel pilot Barry Seal to the Colombian Cartel leaders. It provides very little detail or perspective and just feels vaguely funny and overall underwhelming, honestly. American Made feels slapped together with hectic, obnoxious cuts from editor Andrew Mondshein. Cinematographer César Charlone frames awkward and amateur shots. Camera operator Christopher TJ McGuire does these annoying crash zooms and wildly whips the camera around. American Made is hands down the worst shot and edited film that Tom Cruise has ever starred in and it’s not even close. It makes Tropic Thunder look like a documentary. Tom Cruise completely carries American Made as the sleazy, stupid, greedy, and gullible pilot Barry Seal, who flew guns for the CIA and drugs for Pablo Escobar’s Colombian Cartel throughout the entire 1980’s. Cruise portrays Seal as a man who will literally do anything he’s told just for cash. He’s a total shyster and liar, who helped get people addicted to all the drugs he brought in, got people killed by the guns he smuggled, and ruined the lives of people around him with his plane smuggling. Domhnall Gleeson is abrupt and blunt as CIA schemer Monty Schafer. He is not great here as his forgettable CIA agent. Sarah Wright is over the top and basic as Lucy Seal. She just feels like she’s here to be eye candy since her character has no personality. She’s just wasted to be Tom Cruise’s inappropriately way too young love interest. Jesse Plemons is funny as the Sheriff Downing, turning a blind eye to the criminal activities in return for gifts and his community getting a financial boost. Caleb Landry Jones is amusing as idiot brother-in-law JB. Alejandro Edda is affable as cartel boss Jorge Ochoa. Everyone else does not matter whatsoever. The overly bright lighting from Kevin Gazdik, Cristen Clark, Killian Clear, and Kelly Clear does not look great. Production designer Dan Weil makes all these scarce sets to just barely make these places look period specific like the props and furniture from set decorator Kelley Burney. Composers Christophe Beck and Michael Paraskevas provide a perfectly acceptable and unremarkable score. Costume designers Jenny Gering and Kym Barrett gives Tom Cruise 80’s outfits that are somewhat fun. In short, I don’t why American Made is 115 minutes, considering it has very little story to tell or scenes of interest. Tom Cruise carries the movie with his charisma.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/17/24

Full Review

Lorry S

Watch it. A very good Tom Cruise movie that a lot of people missed.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/05/24

Full Review

Howard H

Players will play. Film represents many portrayals of expectations.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/11/24

Full Review

Kevin L

Pretty standard, by the book formula drug runner/CIA stooger movie. Cruise kinda walks through this one with half-hearted effort. Guess he could see it for the level of production it was. No real highs and the lows aren't so bad. 3 stars

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/13/24

Full Review

Alec B

It's a pretty poor imitation of Scorsese, mostly because of the overly frantic editing and the fact that we just don't get a good sense of who Barry Seal is.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/05/24

Full Review

K I

super fun. great directing and cinema. tom cruise super fun to watch. camerawork great. not exactly accurate to events, but as a movie, really entertaining.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/19/23

Full Review

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Doug Liman

Director

Tom Cruise

Barry Seal

Domhnall Gleeson

Monty "Schafer"

Sarah Wright

Lucy Seal

Jesse Plemons

Sheriff Downing

Caleb Landry Jones

JB

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American Made: Official Clip - Pablo's Revenge

2:47

American Made: Official Clip - A Cadillac for Your Troubles

2:27

American Made: Official Clip - Barry Gets Burned

2:03

American Made: Official Clip - Outflying the DEA

2:11

American Made: Official Clip - Becoming a Drug Plane

4:26

American Made: Official Clip - Setting Up Escobar

3:00

American Made: Official Clip - Goodbye, JB

2:48

American Made: Official Clip - The Gringo Who Delivers

3:12

American Made: Official Clip - Celebrating with Escobar

2:56

American Made: Official Clip - Summer '82

2:14

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American Made: Behind the Scenes - Helicopters and Airplanes

1:25

American Made: Behind the Scenes - Who is Barry Seal?

1:18

American Made: Behind the Scenes - Really Unique

1:09

American Made: Behind the Scenes - On the Front Lines

1:25

American Made: Behind the Scenes - Outrageous Story

1:23

American Made: Behind the Scenes - Pilot & Adventurer

1:05

American Made: Behind the Scenes - Film School Bootcamp

1:05

American Made: Behind the Scenes - Mena, Arkansas

0:56

American Made: Behind the Scenes - Schafer in CIA Meeting

0:34

American Made: B-Roll

5:28

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David Sims

The Atlantic

But by the time the movie roared to its shockingly grim, remarkably embittered ending, American Made had won me over.

Oct 13, 2017

Full Review

Katie Walsh

Tribune News Service

It skitters and jumps, shivers and boot-scoots, never, ever sitting still. You could say it's like "Blow," on well, blow. But there's a breezy sunniness to this film, which looks like a faded snapshot reclaimed from an '80s photo album.

Oct 7, 2017

Full Review

J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

One assumes that Cruise got this film made, yet he's a terrible fit for the role: he's always done his best work portraying smart, insightful characters in dramatic stories, but Seal was a yahoo whose sorry escapades are played here for cynical laughs.

Oct 5, 2017

Full Review

Colin Biggs

Vague Visages

American Made might push Cruise further along his evolution to more interesting, character-based roles. One doesn’t expect an immediate return to iconic roles like Vincent Lauria or T.J. Mackey, but hopefully Barry Seal is just the start.

Dec 1, 2023

Full Review

Don Shanahan

Every Movie Has a Lesson

"American Made" is southern-fried Scorsese Lite, a gumbo of decadent deviance masking over a sharp spice of potentially fatal risks.

Rated: 4/5

Jun 26, 2022

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Regardless of its exciting story and sharp ending, the film contains almost no lasting consequence and feels more like an adventure than the story of a real-world scandal, rather troublingly so.

Rated: 2.5/4

Mar 17, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

Barry Seal, a TWA pilot, is recruited by the CIA to provide reconnaissance on the burgeoning communist threat in Central America and soon finds himself in charge of one of the biggest covert CIA operations in the history of the United States. The operation spawns the birth of the Medellin cartel and almost brings down the Reagan White House.

Director: Doug Liman
Executive Producer: Paris Kassidokostas-Latsis, Terry Dougas, Brandt Andersen, Eric Greenfeld, Michael Finley, Michael Bassick, Ray Chen
Screenwriter: Gary Spinelli
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Hercules Film Fund, Brian Grazer, Vendian Entertainment, Quadrant Pictures
Rating: R (Some Sexuality/Nudity|Language Throughout)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 29, 2017, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 19, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $51.3M
Sound Mix: Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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