It doesn’t offer enough fresh material either to inspire or to infuriate.
Tools:
Recommend review to a friend »
Of all the things you might expect from a new Michael Moore documentary, the very last would be that it went completely unnoticed.
Moore is the ultimate bęte-noir of right-wing talk show listeners who, as a group, seem to be far more obsessed with the minutiae of Moore´s life than the so-called liberals he allegedly preaches to. Moore is even the subject of the new David Zucker parody "An American Color" in which, har-de-har-har, Moore is depicted as an America-hating guy who wants to abolish the Fourth of July and, oh yeah, he´s also fat!!!
The surprisingly low profile of "Slacker Uprising" is due in large part to the fact that the film was not released theatrically, but rather was released simultaneously as an online download and on DVD. Indeed, the film can be downloaded for free at slackeruprising.com should you not wish to invest even a modest sum in this DVD.
Still, online and home market releases aren´t unique. The real reason that "Slacker Uprising" has stirred up neither controversy nor publicity is the fact that it doesn´t offer enough fresh material either to inspire or to infuriate.
Written and directed by Moore, "Slacker Uprising" is a concert tour film covering Moore´s 20-state Slacker Uprising tour in the weeks just before the 2004 election. Intended as a grassroots "get the vote out" movement to work in tandem with the release of "Fahrenheit 9/11," Moore teamed up with musicians like Eddie Vedder, Joan Baez and a host of performers too hip for me to have heard of in order to fill venues, mostly on college campuses, and to get young people to register to vote.
In his usual puckish mode, Moore hands out free Ramen noodles and clean underwear to any slacker who fills out a registration form. Humorless Michigan Republicans, looking to score cheap points by bashing the hated filmmaker, filed suit against Moore for allegedly bribing voters. Nothing came of the charges. Wealthy self-styled conservatives offered their own bribes – often in the form of many thousands of dollars rather than noodles and boxers – to dissuade colleges from letting Moore speak.
Moore´s stated goal was to motivated 56% of the people to vote, though he makes no secret of who he wants them to vote for. Unlike George Bush, Moore did not screen audiences at his speaking engagements and Bush supporters frequently showed up to heckle him or, even worse, to pray for him (or against him, it´s hard to tell). Moore lauds them for exercising their right to protest but then turns right around with a typically ungenerous portrait, showing a montage of the very dumbest Bush supporters saying the very dumbest things: "You like Michael Moore, you hate the American flag!" and "I think the man is a communist." Genuinely amusing, however, are the ditto-heads who rant about how "Fahrenheit 9/11" is "full of lies" only to admit on questioning that they haven´t seen it.
"Slacker Uprising" provides a challenge to viewers in 2008. Is it an inspiring portrait of the power of grassroots politics? Or is it a record of a total failure? Voter registration did spike higher, and young people voted in larger numbers than before, but self-describe white evangelicals turned out in even larger numbers to vote for their W. Perhaps we need to see a companion piece called "Evangelical Uprising" before passing judgment. Or did we already get that with the horror film "Jesus Camp"?
Moore provides several funny moments along the way, including a hilarious parody of the depressingly successful Swift Boat ads: "Max Cleland still has one arm left. Why? Cowardice!" He also aims his angriest rhetoric at the mainstream media for its completely uncritical pre-invasion coverage. If the movie does nothing else, it preserves the sense of outrage many of us felt at the relentless drumbeat of war pounded out on the airwaves of the so-called liberal media.
Average user rating (1-5):
Not yet rated.
Not yet rated.
[release]24989[/release]