Sarah Palin: You Betcha!

For a little while, Sarah Palin: You Betcha! comes off as a surprisingly even-handed look at the life and political career of politician Sarah Palin – as filmmakers Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill speak to the various folks in Palin’s life and fill out the details of her past through archival footage. There is, as such, not much here to immediately capture the viewer’s interest, as the filmmakers explore the less-than-engrossing details of Palin’s background (eg her stint on a women’s basketball team). There reaches a point, however, at which Broomfield and Churchill begin their relentless campaign of unearthing the dirt on the former Alaskan mayor, with the compilation of her on-camera flubs triggering the film’s transformation into a mean-spirited hit piece (which, oddly enough, Broomfield insists on several occasions he’s not making). As such, the latter half of Sarah Palin: You Betcha! Is chock-a-block with examples of Palin’s ineptitude – though Broomfield and Churchill are simply unable to offer up any shocking or even unknown bits of information on their subject. The point has long-since been made that Palin is incompetent and corrupt, but Broomfield and Churchill have nowhere else to go from there (ie what’s the point of all this muckraking?) It is, as a result, impossible not to wonder which demographic this is meant to appeal to, as there’s nothing here Palin’s detractors didn’t already know – while the politician’s supporters will unlikely make it past the half hour mark before giving up entirely.

*1/2 out of ****