Two Movies Reviewed

On Saturday I visited my brother in Manhattan. He needed some computer help and I hadn't been up to see him in some time.

After dealing with the computer and getting him setup with a universal remote for his home theater setup, we headed out to see "Sicko" which was playing at the local AMC/Loews. I will say I am a fan of Michael Moore's movies. While I do admit that he's been a bit more over-the-top than he needs to be, he's certainly nowhere near as slimy as the conservative pundits running around out there. In fact, I suspect that much of his edge is due to being so different from the normal celebrity.

Sicko is different from the rest of his movies, especially the more recent ones, in that it seems far more mature. It stays on-focus and makes its point time and again with clear examples that rarely beg for further insight.

The movie is quite powerful. Heads all over the theater kept dropping in complete shame. It was like we'd been exposed as a tribe of over-confident cavemen living in a Jetsonian world while denying its existence. I have little doubt that the examples provided could be offset by horror stories that abound in any system but what's most telling here is that Moore doesn't set the table like he has previously. He just appears to randomly walk around and experience what's there to experience. If everything here was choreographed then Moore did a wonderful job of hiding it.

The movie challenges all the various reasoning against a socialized medical solution and leaves them looking pretty lacking at every turn. He reduces the arguments to the basic facts and responds with examples that are extremely difficult to refute. How is it that the so-called richest country in the world can't take care of its own people while so many others can?

The key point is that Sicko isn't even about the 50 million Americans without health insurance. It's about those who think they have it only to find, at their time of need, that they don't have the coverage they thought they had.

Remember that I broke my leg in Canada and I, having spent a lifetime here being filled with FUD regarding social medicine, was prepared for the worst when it came to the accident. I called my wife to prepare her for a huge bill and worried about the level of care I'd get. Instead I got far better, faster care than I would have gotten here for a fraction of the cost. The irony of this is that I'm still fighting with Blue Cross to get reimbursed for the expense. In typical fashion they've avoided paying out using every silly excuse you can imagine. The report is in French. The report is too long. They claim not to have e-mail. They only have a fax. When I fax they claim not to get it. In a rare case for me I've given up hope. I'm just glad it was a broken leg and not something bigger. Now I'm worried about bigger and I'm seriously considering my options if I am diagnosed with something serious. I have no faith that our system will work for me and leave me whole at the end. If I get the help needed I'm pretty confident I'll be left in heavy debt for the experience and I don't want to end my time here that way.

It's time for our country to join the rest of the civilized world and provide health care for everyone and to stop making excuses for the rich in this area. Our system has had generations in the free market and the free market clearly isn't the best answer for this problem.

On Sunday we got together for my mother-in-law's birthday and as part of the day we saw "Evan Almighty" together. Evan Almighty is a decent movie. It's getting hammered in the reviews and I can see why but it's not terrible. I think after movies like "Knocked Up" and "40 Year-Old Virgin" people just expect something else here. This was actually a decent family movie where neither of the others are. This is a feel-good movie fit for just about any audience. It's not about cutting-edge humor or lots of complex innuendo. It's just light fun.

There are some things about it that just don't work. The story provides a flood of its own in questions that beg an answer. There suspension of disbelief is just a bit too far of a leap here. By comparison, it's predecessor "Bruce Almighty", is entirely plausible.

The cast is also just wrong here. Very few people feel right in their roles with the exception of John Goodman as the evil politician and, of course, Morgan Freeman as God. The biggest flaw in casting is with Lauren Graham who plays Steve Carell's wife. While she really is 40, she should be quit flattered to hear that she looks nothing like it. I wouldn't have placed her at over 30. She just looks entirely incapable of having had three children of the ages presented here. She also doesn't come off as the motherly type. She seems to me to be better suited for more outgoing roles. I like Wanda Sykes in general but she wasn't quite a fit here and John Michael Higgins was totally miscast.

If you can put those issues aside and just sit back and let the movie take you for the trip its on, you'll find the movie to be enjoyable and generally funny. Steve Carell knows how to get a laugh out of just about anything and its an asset here. There are some good laughs here but it's a telling sign when people are laughing more during the credits than they did during most of the movie.

I'd give Sicko 4-stars (out of 4) and Evan Almighty two.