Word: film
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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...movie star. With his pinched face, his Pillsbury Doughboy silhouette and his air of befuddled skepticism, he looks as if he'd be lucky to land a night manager's job at a 7-Eleven. Moore might even pass for what he is: the novice director of a documentary film about blue- collar unemployment. So why did 2,000 folks stand in line for hours last week in Flint, Mich., to ask him questions, throw verbal brickbats or cheer him on? Why has his movie Roger & Me stoked debate that has spilled from the entertainment pages into the news columns...
Roger & Me, Moore's puckish chronicle of the impact of GM plant closings on the people of Flint, has provoked raves and outrages at film festivals, in movie theaters and especially in the city where it was filmed. Last week, when Moore was the guest on Phil Donahue's talk show, Whiting Auditorium was packed with every species of Flint citizen except GM executives; they were busy warning their ad agencies against placing spots on those Donahue episodes. Slouched in a center-stage chair, Moore got an earful from the audience. Some came to pick nits and fights. Said...
...corporate America and to sell tickets to his movie. Roger & Me proves that with a lot of talent and a bit of righteous self-promotion, you can be a town scourge and a local hero. You can also become a former member of the working poor. Moore made his film for a pinchpenny $260,000 and sold it to Warner Bros. for $3 million. What's bad for General Motors is good for Michael Moore...
...what's so bad -- or good -- about Roger & Me? The film traces Moore's attempts to meet Roger Smith, the chairman of General Motors. Moore's idea is to show Smith the sagging economy and spirit of Flint, a company town ailing from thousands of GM pink slips. Between fruitless visits to Smith's offices, Moore chats with Flint's elite (seen spending a fun, fund-raising night at the city jail) and homegrown celebrities (like game-show host Bob Eubanks, who tells a joke that manages to be anti-gay and anti-Jewish). He follows the rounds...
...once chirpy and cynical, Roger & Me is the rare documentary film that doesn't make viewers feel they are being force-fed a civics lesson. But perhaps the movie is no documentary. Its tone, which tempers populist anger with deadpan facetiousness, is heard in much modern comedy -- sort of Laid Off with David Letterman. Moore classifies the film as "a dark comedy, social satire, 'mockumentary...