Capitalism: A Love Story
Release Date:
September 23, 2009
Limited release
Movie of the Day for Friday, April 10, 2009
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On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 9/38 |
John Seal |
Michael Moore delivers the goods again |
| 91/169 |
Max Braden |
Moore was a bit behind the curve on this one, but there's a positive in that it's a helpful reminder/summary of everything that happened with the economy.. |
Fahrenheit 9/11 is the most financially successful documentary of all-time. And no, I will not get into an argument of semantics with you about whether or not it’s a documentary. Such discussions almost universally divide among political party lines, and that’s not germane to the conversation at hand. FH911 is going to be remembered as a documentary and that truncates further discussion about the topic. What matters for our purposes is that the movie made $119.2 million against production costs of $6 million. Even the finest Hollywood studio bean counters would have a hard time hiding profits like that. Like the project or not (and it’s fair to say that there is a bit of an *ahem* schism on the subject), it made a factor of 20 more than it cost to create. So, Michael Moore gets to keep making movies, even if none of them are likely ever to reach the lofty heights of that powerful film.
Capitalism: A Love Story will not be quite as incendiary as FH911 - though it could have been. Where Fahrenheit 9/11 was a perfect storm of timing, topicality and outrage, Capitalism feels as if it might have had a mightier impact had it been released during the height of the bank collapse. Perhaps it would have been more appropriate to put Sicko in front of audiences on Capitalism's planned release date. Moore certainly knows the topics that will be important, but his timing does feel off here.
Either way, you can be certain that Capitalism: A Love Story will have loud detractors and supporters. He'll carry a bullhorn around and yell at people. And no one is going to come out unscathed. Reviews of the film note that it does an excellent job of explaining the financial crisis in an accessible way, which is something big in its favor. Chances are, nonetheless, that it's going to perform closer to Sicko than to Fahrenheit 9/11. (David Mumpower/BOP)
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