Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Michael Moore tries to bring his take on the financial crash. He interviews a guy talking about Condo Vultures but vultures are a very necessary part of nature. He's talking to Wallace Shawn as some kind of expert on capitalism. Moore gives a simplified history lesson. As a follow up to "Roger & Me", it's a bit too scattered. There are some interesting stories like the corrupted juvenile detention. The airline pilots aren't that interesting. The way into the story is Sullenberger but all he could muster is archival footage. The life insurance policy story is not that compelling because it's actually an useful tool for companies. Unless the companies work to kill the workers, it is more tasteless than harmful. Moore brings in religion into convincing a certain segment of the population. It's not until midway that he finally tries to explain the financial crash.The most disappointing part is that he throws up his arms when trying to explain derivatives. It's too easy. He should try to explain derivatives instead of not expecting the audience to understand it. There are some interesting personal stories and some insightful revelations. The movie could have been streamlined into a much harder punch at the financial collapse.

This movie had nothing to say about capitalism. Instead it was a bunch of petty whining about Democrats vs. Republicans. The arguments are crap, there are no real sources for anything. This movie is a sales pitch for liberalism, pure and simple. Moore couldn't even bother to look up capitalism in the dictionary. He talked about government programs and called them private throughout the entire movie. This movie is god awful.I made 4 pages of notes on this movie before giving up. It never talks about the 2008 crisis being due to the government creating a no risk zone for banks (removing capitalism from their businesses). It didn't mention that cooperatives are capitalistic (and it even said that them making profit is good, while other companies making profits is bad). It's literally that childish. This movie is pure trash.

There have been a number of excellent Documentaries and Dramas about the near financial collapse in the late 2000's and there can't really be enough. The exploitation of the rich on the poor or less fortunate is hardly anything new in Human History, but here we are. Needing to be reminded once again how the deck is stacked and decadence delivers once again. Cue Michael Moore.Moore's shaggy black comedy strokes are here once again to deliver this as irony and entertainment. He is quite a master at this type of thing and is the best of this breed of shoot from the hip filmmakers. His conservative critics love to personalize the assault on his audacious claims, usually starting their witticisms with: "the fat guy", or "needing a bath", Michael Moore is at it again.When debating, if you are in trouble and can't refute the facts, begin your attack on a personal level. So when you see this you know you are doing something right and MM knows that is exactly what he is doing. Something right."We need the deviate in society", says Lenny Bruce, "we need the deviate to tell us when we are screwing up". The voice from the wilderness that is heard and headed, or at least draws attention to the kind of things that the Mainstream Media is reluctant or restricted from presenting.Love it or hate it. Mr. Moore's relentless rants and brightly lit mirrors are a welcome and fun way of telling us when we are screwing up and we do screw up quite a bit so he is here to stay. The scruffy curmudgeon, the gadfly in the ointment, is a sorely needed entity picking away at our peccadilloes.

As is usually the case with Michael Moore's movies, he brings some very valid points, wrapped in manipulative gimmicks and appealing visuals. And it works, it entertains and it sends its messages across, but now more than ever it feels forced; Moore offers very little substantial information, instead forcing his point and attacking his enemies with vicious relentlessness.Capitalism: A Love Story is a good piece of documentary cinema, but it's much less important than Sicko, Bowling for Columbine, or even Fahrenheit 9/11 - which was also heavily manipulative but much more effective and actually had something important to say.