A Constant Visual Feast

Maybe I’m not the guy to review a Michael Moore movie. I don’t dislike his work, per se; he’s great at crafting a convincing argument, not convincing in the manner of facts, but convincing in an emotional sense. He’s very, very good at riling up his target audience, preaching to a choir already at the point of uproar to stoke someone else’s flames. And he’s entertaining, too. I’m not opposed to antic-fueled agitprop. I’m opposed, really, to the idea that this is the messenger we get in the Trump era of political and social criticism. Bluntly, he’s a bad messenger. He’s too much of a showman. So Fahrenheit 11/9 ends up nearly upstaging its subjects, and “nearly” is close enough to actually doing it. (Plus: He’s a common man charlatan. That doesn’t help.)

You can read my full piece about Fahrenheit 11/9 over at The Week.