故事发生在 1969 年的圣费尔南多谷，讲述了钱伯斯一家追求崇高而看似不可能实现的梦想的故事。汉普顿·钱伯斯（奥伊罗沃饰）出狱后，期待已久的家庭团聚并没有按照他的计划进行。在他出狱期间，汉普顿的妻子阿斯托利亚（米西克 饰）和儿子爱因斯坦（埃里森 饰）、哈里森（迪阿洛·温斯顿 饰）组成了一个非传统的家庭单元，汉普顿的回归让他们的世界陷入混乱。

这是斯塔顿总统（丹尼斯·奎德 Dennis Quaid 饰）这几年来头一遭翻开报纸，没想到，关于自己的负面新闻以排山倒海之势扑面而来，大受打击的斯塔顿顿时陷入了郁郁寡欢之中，行为举止也日渐怪异。作为斯塔顿的得力助手，萨特（威廉·达福 Willem Dafoe 饰）感到十分焦急。竞选在即，不断下跌的支持率让他所支持的这位竞选人离连任的目标越来越远。 为了力挽狂澜，无奈的萨特只得将斯塔顿搞到了目前最火爆的真人秀“美国梦”的特约评审席上。经过层层选拔，奥默（Sam Golzari 饰）和莎莉（曼迪·摩尔 Mandy Moore 饰）两名选手站在了斯塔顿的面前，而他们其中之一，竟然是危险的恐怖分子。谁将获胜，决定权在斯塔顿的手中，他的选择将直接关系到国家的安危。

本片讲述的是发生在明尼苏达州工人大罢工，展现当时人们的种种心态，还有工会和公司进行谈判的全过程，以及工人发生的激烈冲突，但是这场大罢工还是没有结果。

讲述一对兄弟想要经商，找一个俄罗斯帮派的人贷了款，随后两人发现无法偿还这笔钱，找上门来的是……

每个人来美国之前，他的“美国梦”都是一种对美好生活的幻想，而来到美国之后，即使现实状况没有想象那么好，大部分人还不愿意从这个梦里边醒来。人们愿意在此遭罪，期待有一天实现自己的美国梦。

《美国梦》的主角路易斯在被南加州大学戏剧艺术系拒绝后，决定前往洛杉矶城市大学。现实推动他成长，而对艺术的追求又促使他退学，并与朋友罗纳德一同加入海军。怀揣着梦想身着戎装的路易斯和罗纳德，用摄像机记录下奔赴阿富汗战场前36小时的生活。在生命中最为黑暗的时刻，他们最后一次用摄像机记录下回乡之旅的最后瞬间。他们很快意识到，自己的梦想以及对新生活的向往，在战争面前毫无意义。

"... A description of the form of AMERICAN DREAMS is deceptively simple: along a narrow border at the bottom of the screen a handwritten transcription of Arthur Bremer's diary crawls from right to left; a series of chronological baseball cards from the career of Hank Aaron are shown in a steady cadence, first the front (usually a photo), then the reverse side (batting statistics, etc.). Finally, overtitles indicate by year the sources of the soundtrack's fragmentary speeches and songs. ... AMERICAN DREAMS is far from unrestricted in its horizons. A clear 'sense of the ending' is limited by two inevitable acts: Bremer will shoot Wallace; Aaron will break Babe Ruth's record. As a work energized by an autobiographical impulse, Benning nonetheless hides himself in the shadows of time. It isn't necessary to know that Bremer was Benning's neighbor in Milwaukee or that the filmmaker counts among his greatest achievements pitching batting practice to the Milwaukee Braves in 1962. As externally shaped and motivated as it appears to be, AMERICAN DREAMS is marked by a dark and self-conscious meeting of personal and public desires ...." - Paul Arthur, The Appearance of History in Recent Avant-Garde Film. American Dreams is chock full of concrete, discrete elements that comprise an American iconography of the past three decades. The film encourages a kind of perverse nostalgia for 'the good old days': Nixon's 'you don't have Nixon to kick around any more'; Elvis' response to questions about his gyrating style and the rumour that once he shot his mother; Patty Hearst's 'Tania' statement; Senator Ribicoff's reference to 'Gestapo tactics in the streets of Chicago'. All of which is punctuated by the music of the period and set against a composite image of Hank Aaron memorabilia (arranged chronologically, 1954-76, the span of the champion home-run hitter's major league career), and the sordid diary jottings of the would-be assassin, Arthur Bremer.

《美国梦魇》是美国著名B级片大厂Troma特罗马于1984年推出的力作。当时美国国内正深陷越战梦魇，电影界也涌现出一大批经典反战影片，比如《猎鹿人》《现代启示录》等。本片同样反映了战后创伤，讲述了一名越战退伍美国大兵的悲惨遭遇。