Captain Mike Across America aka Slacker Uprising (2007)

(On DVD, April 2009) This weakest Michael Moore film yet has little of the wit or ferociousness of his other polemics: It’s not much more than a low-budget video chronicle of his 2004 efforts to motivate college students to vote against Bush. The effort failed, obviously, which takes away from the effort from the get-go. Moore can either be annoying or inspiring, and the limited material quickly wears thin. From time to time (such as when Moore deals with hecklers), the film picks up a bit; otherwise, it’s insipid partisan propaganda even to those who are basically in agreement with Moore’s policies. It doesn’t help that Moore is often his own worst advocate –and by making himself the focus of his own movie, well, he grates early and often. Obviously, this film (freely released as a download on the eve of the 2008 election) aimed to convince another political mini-generation that Obama was worth fighting for. But in retrospect, a more interesting piece may have been to compare 2004 activism versus what happened four years alter –with the added sweet bonus of Obama’s victory at the end of the narrative.