Fahrenheit 9/11
For full disclosure, I must say, yes, I'm a Republican supporting George W. Bush. Going to Berkeley for 4 years didn't convince me to join the other side. On the other hand, I'm a big fan of liberal writers like Michael Moore and Al Franken. They're two of the best political humorists out there, even if Republicans are the butt of most of their jokes. So I was at a crossroads when I began watching this documentary. "Fahrenheit 9/11" goes about trying to explain how the Bush Administration deceived the American people by explaining first how Bush won the election, showing the ties Bush had to Saudi Arabia, emhasizing Bush's slow response in reacting to the World Trade Center hits, and showing off the war in Iraq.

Moore does an effective job in telling the stories of the documentary. The mother who lost her son in Iraq. Kids in the inner city being recruited to join the military. That sorta thing. The weak part is the non-stop facts that attack the President. Maybe I'm looking at it like a journalist would, but Moore fails to show any response by the other side to defend themselves. Yes, I'm sure they would have rejected his requests for an interview, but he at least should have shown himself trying, like he has done in previous movies. It's like in public, we're seeing a kinder, gentler Michael Moore. But in the comforts of a voiceover while making President Bush look like a fool, it makes the first half degenerate into "Crossfire" except that Paul Begala and James Carville keep screaming at you without Tucker Carlson and Robert Novak there to calm them down. There are some cheap shots and, dare I say, inaccurate or at least stretched comments among his facts he uses throughout the film, the frequency of which makes the attacks repetitive, but what Moore presents does raise some good questions; questions I wish he could have gotten some Republican to answer. 2.5 stars