Sicko

As expected, Sicko primarily comes off as an uneven effort that’s sporadically as superfluous as it is interesting – as director Michael Moore saddles the proceedings with an overlong running time and an increased emphasis on entirely needless elements. And while there’s no denying the effectiveness of the movie’s first two-thirds, it’s just as clear that Sicko suffers from a final half hour that’s nothing short of interminable. Moore’s target this time around is the American health care industry, which, according to the notoriously antagonistic documentarian, is essentially a corrupt and entirely unfixable system that’s in dire need of a complete overhaul. To further illustrate his point, Moore offers a look at the effectiveness of socialized health care programs in countries like Canada, Britain, and France – although, admittedly, the filmmaker’s penchant for exaggeration does force the viewer to occasionally question the veracity of the movie’s facts (ie Canada is far from the medical utopia that Moore relentlessly insists it is). Nevertheless, there’s little doubt that Sicko is often as eye-opening as Moore has surely intended – with the inclusion of several intriguing (and undeniably depressing) stories certainly hammering home the film’s poignant message. It’s only with Moore’s (admittedly predictable) decision to emphasize a number of digressions that the movie starts to falter, and, like each of his previous efforts, the end result is a documentary whose overall impact is inevitably diluted by Moore’s inability to stay focused.

**1/2 out of ****