''Michael Moore Hates America'' is a

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

directed by Michael Wilson that criticizes the work of film director Michael Moore. It premiered September 12, 2004, in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, at the American Film Renaissance

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...

Overview

The film and its poster are patterned after Moore's film ''

Roger & Me ''Roger & Me'' is a 1989 American documentary film written, produced, directed by, and starring Michael Moore, in his directorial debut. Moore portrays the regional economic impact of General Motors CEO Roger Smith's action of closing several a ...

'', during which Moore attempts to chase down Roger Bonham Smith for an interview. In this case, Wilson seeks an interview with Moore. Wilson also adopts other aspects of Moore's style in his efforts at satirizing Moore. For instance, Wilson interviews a mix of Americans across the country and well-known figures like conservatives

Dinesh D'Souza Dinesh Joseph D'Souza (; born April 25, 1961) is an Indian-American right-wing political commentator, author, filmmaker, and conspiracy theorist. He has written over a dozen books, several of them ''New York Times'' best-sellers. In 2012, D' ...

David Horowitz David Joel Horowitz (born January 10, 1939) is an American conservative writer. He is a founder and president of the right-wing David Horowitz Freedom Center (DHFC); editor of the Center's website '' FrontPage Magazine''; and director of Disco ...

and

Andrew Breitbart Andrew James Breitbart (; February 1, 1969 – March 1, 2012) was an American conservative journalist, and political commentator who was the founder of ''Breitbart News'' and a co-founder of ''HuffPost''. After helping in the early stages of '' ...

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Albert Maysles Albert Maysles (November 26, 1926 – March 5, 2015) and his brother David Maysles (January 10, 1931 – January 3, 1987; ) were an American documentary filmmaking team known for their work in the Direct Cinema style. Their best-known films i ...

and fellow

libertarians Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's enc ...

such as

Penn Jillette Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955) is an American magician, actor, musician, inventor, television presenter, and author, best known for his work with fellow magician Teller as half of the team Penn & Teller. The duo has been featured ...

and Tim Slagle. Wilson revisits some of Moore's shooting locations and subjects from ''

'' and ''

Bowling for Columbine ''Bowling for Columbine'' is a 2002 documentary film written, produced, directed, and narrated by Michael Moore. The film explores what Moore suggests are the primary causes for the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 and other acts of gun ...

'', and criticizes many aspects of Moore's films by alleging they include fabrications and misrepresentations. For example, a scene from the Moore film ''Bowling for Columbine'' depicting the NRA as callous and uncaring about victims of shootings is criticized by Wilson. Wilson also criticizes a scene in ''Columbine'' in which Moore enters a bank in

Traverse City, Michigan Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population wa ...

, and walks out with a gun that he received as a perk for opening a deposit account. Wilson asserts that this scene is fabrication, and that Michael Moore had grossly misled, and in some cases lied, to the staff of the bank in order to get his desired shots for the ''Columbine'' film. Numerous other subjects of Moore's films were later interviewed by Wilson in the ''Michael Moore Hates America'' film, many of which decried Moore's work as overt propaganda, including double-arm amputee soldier Peter Damon in ''Fahrenheit 9/11'' who stated on camera for Wilson, "I want nothing to do with that man

oore Oore is a village in Tori Parish, Pärnu County in southwestern Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Fin ...

and his propaganda."

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film was found to receive a generally positive reception, with 75% of critics giving the movie favorable reviews. Some critics favored the film's examination of Moore's methods. The film was also nominated for Best Documentary from the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. Ebert and Roeper gave it “Two thumbs up”.

References

External links

* * * {{rotten-tomatoes, 1183735 2004 films Films about Michael Moore American documentary films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films