Captain Mike Across America

Following in the footsteps of such polarizing documentaries as Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko, Michael Moore’s Captain Mike Across America instantly establishes itself as a far breezier (and admittedly one-sided) affair that ultimately feels as though it’d be more at home within the supplemental materials section of one of his DVDs. The film follows Moore as he travels from state-to-state during the 2004 presidential election, with his goal being to encourage more young people to get out and vote. Captain Mike Across America initially plays out as a standard tour/concert film, with Moore’s short rah-rah speeches followed by a performance by a left-leaning musician (eg Eddie Vedder and Steve Earle). It’s not until the filmmaker begins to include the sort of political content he’s become famous for that the movie finally becomes as sporadically engaging as one might’ve hoped, and there’s certainly no overlooking the poignancy of some of these interludes (with the sequence in which Moore encourages a stadium full of people to applaud for a special forces vet certainly a key example of this). Ultimately, however, Captain Mike Across America is simply too long and too repetitive to make any real impact – though Moore’s fans will undoubtedly find more value here than casual viewers.

**1/2 out of ****