Michael Moore Cashes In

Somebody at Gawker just asked, "When is Michael Moore gonna drop the fat-guy-in-the-lobby-routine?" Hilarious thought. But then, why would he? The persistent paparazzi gimmick has served Moore well, and over two decades, the style has buoyed a substantial cult of fans from a heaving sea of disenfranchised Americans. Moore's new documentary, freshly titled Capitalism: A Love Story, promises a much bigger box office crater than 2007's Sicko, which explored the casualties of American health care. Deviating slightly, the new film is an upbeat examination of the costs of corporate profiteering. "It will be the perfect date movie," said Moore in an Overture Films press release. "It's got it all — lust, passion, romance, and 14,000 jobs being eliminated every day. It's a forbidden love. One dare not speak its name. Heck, let's just say it: It's capitalism."

The documentary will headline the 34th annual Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 10–19. And for Moore, the event will double as a homecoming; he won the People's Choice award there in 1989 for his first documentary, Roger and Me, which detailed the economic devastation caused by GM's plant closures in the filmmaker's hometown of Flint, Mich.

Whether he's a our generation's Jacob Riis matters less than the idea that scores of admirers continually resonate with Moore's celluloid crusades for the little guy. With his eternal fetish for smoking guns, Capitalism finds the filmmaker spelunking the impenetrable fortress of American finance. A just-released two-minute clip of the film finds patent Moore on a surprise visit to the offices of a major bailout recipient, armed with empty bags and an accusatory camera pointing like a crooked finger. The mission? Pressure nervous corporate executives to return the American people's money.

"I had no way of knowing in May of 2008 that the economy would crash four months later," Moore, who began shooting at that time, told the Hollywood Reporter. He added, "I have no doubts that people will want to come to a movie that goes after, with humor and reckless abandon, those bastards who've made their lives miserable."

We'll see about that on Oct. 2 when Capitalism: A Love Affair hits theaters. But if his past films indicate anything, when it comes to satirizing corporate America, Moore holds a market share on national balm.

Photo courtesy of Brave New Films