Michael Moore reviews capitalism, audience reviews Michael Moore
October 13, 2009Jon Brooks 1 Comment »
Michael Moore’s latest film, Capitalism: A Love Story, is perhaps his most radical. Aside from recounting Big Business’ recent Greatest Hits in terms of corruption and mercenary behavior, it also classifies our entire economic system as “evil,” antithetical to democracy, and in need of not just an overhaul but eradication.
So how have audiences responded? On the movie review site Rotten Tomatoes, users give it a score of 68% out of 100%, while on Yahoo! Movies, the film receives an average grade of B.
Here are some audience comments that have been voted “most helpful” by the Yahoo! Movies community:
I feel like I just watched a snuff film
As I left the theater, I had the same knot in my stomach as when I see a brutal crime unfolding on a security cam: helpless, enraged, sickened but unable to turn away…This film documents a crime spree, one that threatens our nation and that was hatched and carried out by the very same people we expect to be responsible, accountable, patriotic and moral. Bankers, Wall Street investors, most of our politicians, the media, and ‘we the people’ are all to blame for this economic meltdown that has destroyed countless business, social gains, and the lives of millions of homeowners…
….It may not be his best film but perhaps is sufficient enough to accomplish Moore’s apparent goal; to shake the audience out of their sheeplike trance, and to tell us that we can only be SO entertained on the way to the slaughterhouse…
Grade: B
Movie could make super-wealthy nervous
After seeing this movie with a multi-racial audience in Texas, and seeing their reaction to the heart-breaking scenes of police sent by the banks to take (people’s) possessions and leave them with nothing, super rich people should feel a little nervous that the majority of Americans might see a revolution as a possibility to clean up capitalism that has mutated into an evil system that devours the middle class and poor…
Grade: A
Michael Moore is the yang to Rush Limbaugh’s yin; both are artists at manipulating facts, postulating erroneous information and assailing those who dare question their integrity. Both Moore and Limbaugh are bloated bullies. This latest offering by Moore is gut-wrenchingly awful…Moore elects to avoid any mention of the virtues of capitalism such as rewarding those with the moral maturity to cooperate with others and develop their productive skills.
The best media is that which challenges the reader, listener or viewer to examine all of the facts without giving any hint as to attitudes or convictions of the author(s). Let’s hope an objective medium (will) come to pass in this age of Fox news and maudlin liberalism.
Grade: F
I used to agree with everything he said but…
I have mixed feelings about this movie. I don’t like how Michael Moore is trying to imply that capitalism is bad when it’s greed and corruption that is the real issue. Capitalism is a great thing and is how immigrants can come here poor and wind up living a great life so I don’t think it’s fair to say capitalism itself is bad. And the fact that he was trying to insult real estate investors and say that people are vultures and bottom feeders for buying foreclosed homes–that makes no sense. Most foreclosed homes need some work and who is going to pay top dollar for a house that needs work? If investors don’t buy and fix them up, the neighborhood will turn into a ghetto…
Now hey, it is very sad to see anyone losing their home but if you cannot pay, you cannot stay, that is the way things work, period. I think he missed the mark with this movie.
Grade: B+
Entertaining, but fragile arguments
The problem with this movie is while it does expose ‘the haves’ for their excesses, corruption, and greed, it doesn’t turn the same camera on the protagonists – ‘the have-nots.’
Consider the case of the family who is being evicted from their house…The father describes how their mortgage payment went from $1700 to over $2500. Moore fails to illustrate the fact that this couple had clearly signed up for an adjustable rate mortgage. They had the opportunity to lock in a fixed rate and chose otherwise. In this case, as in thousands of cases around the country, the homeowner has chosen to gamble, no differently than the Wall Street folks Moore condemns. He could argue that mortgage brokers didn’t give customers the best advice. But that’s like saying a car salesman didn’t explain the benefits of owning a hatchback. Only a lazy consumer listens and follows everything a salesman says.
…Lenders can only be blamed for so much. Predatory lending? Sure. But, even if they gave out 0% home equity loans and credit cards, it wouldn’t address the fact that people were living beyond their means… You can’t blame any bank for that.
… (Moore’s) conclusion that capitalism is inherently evil is false. Unregulated capitalism perhaps. But unregulated anything can be evil…Capitalism is not the problem. Corruption is. Moore asks the question, what would Jesus think of capitalism? I think he would be indifferent. Socio-economic systems are just tools to be used. It’s like asking what he’d think about knives. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t want anyone to stab each other. But, it’d be nice to have when making a meal. Of course he’d be disappointed by the sight of someone losing their house. But I think he’d be equally disappointed in the people who have lost the home…
Grade: B-
This time stick, don’t abandon Moore
All I can say after seeing Michael Moore’s latest movie is I hope, I pray, that this time his ‘friends’ and ‘allies’ don’t abandon him when the Right Wing machine-guns aim their attacks at his head. This movie is exactly what I have witnessed first-hand since the Reagan machine took power. I work in white-collar America, and I am not a capitalism-hater…..but it has become brain-dead obvious that capitalism needs a major overhaul and a major cleanup. Thank you Michael Moore for continuing to speak for me.
Grade: A+
When has Michael Moore ever tried to make a movie when he didn’t know his conclusion to begin with? This isn’t investigative reporting…Not one of the people or situations is free market. He investigates government-regulated industries and markets, and then concludes that capitalism is to blame. That’s like investigating NASCAR drivers and concluding that Americans drive in circles. If Michael Moore wanted to do a real investigative movie, why didn’t he try to find any place in the world where a stark comparison of “free market” and “socialist planning” could be found? Why didn’t he compare Tianjin Economic Development Area (TEDA) to the standard of living in “socialist” China that lies outside the fence? He wouldn’t be able to start with his conclusion if he did that.
Grade: D
Michael Moore exposes banking crimes
I already see the Michael Moore haters out in full effect. But what he says here about the banks and capitalism is the truth. It’s a really poignant movie. Too bad the subject matter is about the demise of our country, but…if someone doesn’t stand up to these banks besides Mr. Moore, then prepare to say hello 3rd-world country. Really good film! Sorry haters, but the country is in trouble. Face it and learn something.
Grade: A
…the Federal Reserve should have been a key point in this film. They were fueling the great expansion of money supply, allowing wars overseas to be financed, huge deficits, and household debt to grow at catastrophic rates. Maybe (Moore) should have touched upon the nature of the Federal Reserve so that the average American can start to understand how they are being robbed and their standard of living eroded.
Grade: A-
This film is really geared toward the uninformed American, which unfortunately is the majority. I am no Republican or Democrat. I am actually able to think for myself and although some of the shenanigans that go on on Wall St. and D.C. are deplorable, this film is one-sided and biased…
Moore criticizes people who majored in finance in college, but says nothing about the people who don’t bother finishing high school and end up relying on a factory job in their small town somehow thinking that it will always be there…I am very saddened that many people have lost their homes to foreclosure, but where is the personal responsibility? Moore makes it seem like sheriffs just show up at your home and throw you out…If you don’t pay your mortgage, the bank will take your home. Period. People bought homes they could not afford, they refinanced their current homes without reading the contracts they signed in detail and now they are angry. Let this be a lesson to everyone that you need a higher education in this world to even have a chance of making it and in this country everyone has that opportunity, NO EXCUSES!
Grade: D-
This film isn’t about Dem/Rep. It is about how we have lost the American Dream to the interests of those who only care about making money. After witnessing what has happened over the last 10 or so months, it has become clear that our government has become compromised and no longer has the ability to act independently of corporate interests.
This film illustrates this point vividly, presents clear and compelling evidence, and shows us the all too real consequences of allowing this abuse of the American worker to continue…
Michael Moore just wants his country back. And so do I.
Grade: A+
Why do I have to pay for this?
If capitalism is evil, why do I have to pay for tickets? Shouldn’t this movie be free?
Grade: D
February 17th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
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