This even-handed effort simply doesn't probe deep enough.
10/26/07 03:15 AM
Manufacturing Dissent (2007)
52 %
Reviews Counted: 23 Fresh: 12 Rotten:11 Average Rating: 5.2/10
Rated: 12A
Runtime: 90 mins
Runtime: 90 mins
Theatrical Release: 05-10-2007
Synopsis:
Michael Moore has made a career by turning his camera on prominent people and asking them discomfiting questions about hot-button political issues in which they're involved. He's made them squirm and look foolish, extracting some striking answers along the way. Now the tables have turned,... [More]
Genre: Education/General Interest
Starring: Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, Ralph Nader, Errol Morris, Albert Maysles
Reviews
Top Critic
With a wide-ranging array of interviewees and an amusingly Moore-like approach to its subject, Manufacturing Dissent is an enjoyable documentary, whether you're pro-Moore, anti-Moore or indifferent.
10/05/07 09:19 AM
Exposes a paranoid personality, testy with his critics and bullish about his methodology.
10/05/07 08:46 AM
Top Critic Moore's reputation as a brilliant polemicist takes a knock or two, here. But it's still very much upright.
10/05/07 08:26 AM
Top Critic A few serious points against Moore's credibility are overshadowed by a lot of dull posturing, unconvincing argument and unpleasant interviews. It's nothing like as good as the films made by the man it maligns.
10/05/07 07:35 AM
Top Critic The problem in making a documentary about Moore, though, is that it probably won't be as interesting as a documentary made by him, even if his techniques are used.
10/05/07 04:16 AM
Top Critic Some of the accusations in this documentary by a pair of Canadian filmmakers who initially set out to make a positive portrait, will make your eyes water.
10/05/07 03:34 AM
Top Critic The big question you have to ask yourself is: do these dishonest work practices actually undermine the message he's trying get across? The answer is probably not… because Moore is already preaching to the converted.
10/05/07 03:06 AM
This hugely entertaining documentary turns Michael Moore's filmmaking style back on himself to separate the facts from the rumours. It's not a hatchet job, but Moore doesn't emerge unscathed.
08/30/07 03:15 AM
A solid, well-done and seemingly balanced look at Moore's work, his celebrity, his methods and the ethical problems in his reporting.
10/12/07 02:55 PM
There’s little to disagree with in the thumbnail portrait of Moore that emerges from this entertaining doc.
10/11/07 12:34 PM
Too bad co-writers/co-directors Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine don't investigate -- and ingratiate -- the way their target does in his own films.
08/31/07 02:25 PM
Top Critic
Manufacturing Dissent comes across less as an expose of a polarizing public figure than as the realization of a personal and not especially interesting grudge against a once-admired colleague who has moved on to bigger things.
08/30/07 12:20 PM
Though much of what’s in the film isn’t new information, seeing it all compiled in one place and building to its damning argument against Moore is effective and disturbing.
08/30/07 03:15 AM
While Manufacturing Dissent provides little that is new, it does place the controversy in the larger context of the contradictory relationship between the pursuit of fame and journalistic integrity.
07/20/07 02:17 PM
Manufacturing Dissent seems disingenuous at times and just plain stupid at others.
07/20/07 02:15 PM
Caine and Melnyk’s film is intent in questioning such legitimacies, which it does well; it’s just as propagandistic as a Michael Moore film, but not as entertaining.
03/20/07 03:16 AM
Manufacturing Dissent seeks to criticize Michael Moore's documentary tactics, while simultaneously using those same tactics unsuccessfully in the creation of the film.
03/20/07 03:16 AM
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