Capitalism: A Love Story

Year: 2009

Grade: B-

Country: USA

Director: Moore

Review

it’s michael moore’s worst film so far. essentially it’s a compilation of all his previous work presented in the same format that you’re used to by now if you haven’t been living under a rock. he comes back to flint, he uses archival footage to open the film, he does some ambush journalism stuff, he gets some anecdotal evidence to support his claim and that’s pretty much it. really, it’s like a michael moore clipshow, and actually that would have been better.

so, it sounds like i’m panning the film, but i’m really not. i like moore’s work. i’ve said for about 8 years or so that i agree with about 85% of what he says, it’s mostly the 15% and some of his tactics that have made him noteworthy, but overall i think he’s a good guy and good filmmaker with good intentions. but the thing you have to understand about him is that johnny got his gun is his favorite film of all-time; that says something about the guy. the sad thing is that he sold out a bit when he dropped nader and jumped on the “anybody but bush” bandwagon in ’04; that move made me lose a good deal of respect for his convictions.

at any rate, this film really is a notch or two below even sicko which was a good, but not great film. i think he mailed this one in, but he’ll be back. the film raises some obvious issues with capitalism and i think that most thinking and informed people have noticed or thought about most of the ideas presented here. the shame isn’t that the style lacks the vision he’s had in the past, rather it’s that he makes a sloppy argument here and he could have done better. again, he mailed it in. unlike some of his other work, this one isn’t going to really inspire anyone to change their mind or think about the issue in a great new way, this one is strictly for the choir.

Watched in theater