Capitalism: a Love Story (2009)

Primer: Michael Moore made another movie you guys.


First, before I say anything, let's all get on the same page Michael Moore-wise: the guy is fat, and kind of a prick. Like, not because he makes politically charged documentaries and writes books all the time, but just because (he is also fat just because). He's a prick in the same way Tom Cruise is a prick, or Sean Penn is a prick - maybe you like them or maybe you don't, but regardless of how you feel about their work you definitely don't want to be on an elevator with them, or in an airport, or in a car, - or anywhere - because they're obnoxious pricks.

I was skeptical, as a person who liked Roger and Me, and Bowling for Columbine, but who can't even remember his last two movies. So, ok, how is his new one? It's pretty good, and the best part is that Moore stays off screen for a lot of it. The guy's movies are way divisive because usually he's going after an issue that people feel strongly about one way or another: gun control, the president, healthcare, and also because nobody likes looking at him. But with Capitalism: A Love Story it seems like that's less of an issue (until the very end), because while the main point of the movie is that capitalism sucks and should be done away with (and replaced with "Democracy," which was either a joke about who's really running the country or a lame oversight of the fact that one is an economic system while the other is a political system), what Moore uses to illustrate this is All that Terrible Stuff that Happened to the Economy Lately. Objectively speaking whether or not it's cool for a person to buy a gun at Wal-Mart is harder to agree on than whether or not it sucks that basically everybody in the country is getting fucked by the recession, and the people who aren't can suck it.

Moore does an excellent job of reminding everybody how bad things are (this is maybe what he's best at), but as is often the case with Documentaries-with-Statements he's lean (lol) on solutions. I'm not saying there is some easy solution to This Economy, besides maybe a time machine and also a visa to move to and work in a country that isn't screwed, but it would have been nice to see more of the film devoted to solutions instead of shots of Moore outside various buildings on Wall Street demanding the arrest of the fat cats who screwed everyone.

Anyway, here's the best part of the movie, with which Moore didn't have anything to do.




Anyway, 6 out of 10