Does Michael Moore get a free pass from the liberal media?

Judging from all the fear and loathing and sheer snarkiness emanating out of the conservative blogosphere, you'd think that Michael Moore was nearly as big a threat to a free society as Hugo Chavez and the Obama healthcare plan. According to conservative blogger Christian Toto, among others, the liberal media is always giving Moore a free pass. He expects a similarly one-sided reception for the filmmaker's upcoming documentary, "Capitalism: A Love Story," which just premiered at the Venice Film Festival before heading to Toronto (it opens in Los Angeles later this month).

In a post he wrote for Big Hollywood, Toto claims that Moore is "always" guaranteed rave reviews from most film critics, softball questions in interviews and a huge dose of ticket-selling Oscar buzz. I'm not saying Toto is wrong, though I'd argue that the media makes just as big a fuss about plenty of other filmmakers (starting with Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Michael Mann) simply because it's infatuated with their films, not because it endorses or even cares about their politics.

At any rate, Variety has the first authoritative review up of Moore's film -- and it hardly reads like a liberal valentine, with just as many caveats as kudos. It calls "Capitalism" one of Moore's best films but goes on to say: "There's still plenty here to annoy right-wingers, as well as those who, however much they agree with Moore's politics, just can't stomach his oversimplification, on-the-nose sentimentality and goofball japery." 

The movie features home movie footage of Moore as a towheaded child, "visibly overjoyed to be visiting Wall Street on a vacation to New York from his hometown of Flint, Michigan," as well as a sequence in which Moore and his dad visit the vacant lot that had been the location of the factory where Moore Sr. once worked (I'm guessing that is one of the scenes that inspired the Variety reviewer, Leslie Felperin, to call Moore out for on-the-nose sentimentality). It sounds like the funniest scene involves Moore attempting to find a banker who can explain the concept behind derivatives. When he finally corners a Wall Street type and asks him for some advice, the banker instantly responds: "Stop making films!"

The likelihood of that? Less than zero. Here's the trailer, which is a hoot"

Photo: Michael Moore. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times.

Comments

[bill]

Dost the right-wing media protest too much? It seems to me that if Michael Moore was the charlatan and buffoon that the right wing makes him out to be, then they would pay him scant attention. True to form, you can almost "set your watch" to the accuracy of what is being said by the vitriol and sensation it causes in the right-wing media when they rush to marginalize and criticize the commentary. This is why Michael Moore is their favorite target.

[Matt]

He gets thousands per speech. He's worth millions. He gets rave reviews for garbage documentaries. Does the hypocrite get a free pass? Is the pope catholic?

[Al]

Come on....stop with this tired mythology already...there IS NO LIBERAL MEDIA when all (or just about ALL) of the media is owned by Mega-Corp. conglomerates...and they're about as 'liberal' as Rupert Murdoch!

[Tom]

Well DOH!

[David]

Is this a retorical question?

[MikeH]

Imagine hearing the phrase "all the fear and loathing and sheer snarkiness" in reference to a Michael Moore movie. Who'd have thought that? I mean Moore is revered, I say revered(!), for his cogent political and cultural analysis. It's not that he gets a "free pass" it's that his work is so utterly important and necessary, today! Cue "the Internationale." To the barricades, comrades!

[truth to power]

What liberal media?

[Adam Soto]

Does the Klan and racial right groups get a pass from Fox News and Rush Limbaugh?

[MooreIsAFraud]

He should go live in a communist country if he thinks the US or capitalism is evil.

I couldn't stand socialism in Europe and left to be in the great United States of America that, like Moore, has allowed me to make more money, have more opportunities than a socialist or communist country.

Yes he does get a pass b/c the Liberal media is just hypocritical and condescending with regular people.

[Ralph L. Seifer]

Perhaps Michael Moore should have spent some time with Muhammad Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank, and the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. I suggest Dr. Yunus's opinion of the value of capitalism might differ drastically from Moore's view. Ralph L. Seifer, Long Beach, California.