Slacker Uprising

Slacker Uprising is the new documentary from Michael Moore. It will be released to Internet for free on September 23, but had a world premiere at Michigan Theater for one night only this past Thursday. I attended, as did Michael Moore, where he spoke briefly about the film.

Slacker Uprising was filmed in September-November 2004, as Moore traveled the country to encourage young people to vote. Given Moore's liberal Democratic status, I think it's fairly obvious who he wanted them to vote for. (cough...*JOHN KERRY!!!*cough) We all know the arguably tragic end, but for the most part, the journey is very compelling. But man, oh man, Michael Moore needs a new editor.

It runs 90 minutes and feels like 900. There are various musical performances by Eddie Vedder, R.E.M., etc. I love the musicians, but the performances drag on and the only two I got a real kick out of was Roseanne Barr's comedy stand-up act and Michael Moore's "gift" to the Republicans - various TV ads for George W. Bush that are anti-Kerry. (Example: Hundreds of thousands of Americans died at Vietnam. If Kerry REALLY loved his country, he would have died. Vote Bush)

They keep on showing many speeches that Moore gives that retread the same water, the speeches take up about 55 minutes. The other 35 minutes is pure genius, and had Moore presented those 35 instead of 90, it would be one of the best this year. Well, so far, only about 4 movies this year have been truly excellent.

The experience was great, even though I sat outside the Michigan Theater for an hour and a half just waiting for the doors to open. Moore was a great speaker, and once or twice he engaged eye contact with me. The movie was overall a disappointment, although the great moments do stick with you. The problem with that? All the rest fades away. C-