Slacker Uprising is the latest documentary from controversial filmmaker Michael Moore. He released it for free on the Internet at http://slackeruprising.com/download/. The film is made up of footage from Moore’s 2004 Slacker Uprising Tour during the Presidential Election of that year. He went to 62 cities in States that were deemed “battleground states”. They had no favorable push towards George W. Bush or John Kerry. So Moore went to get the college kids, ages 18-29, out to vote… of course against Bush for the most part. The documentary was a fun watch but not nearly as good as his previous docs Bowling For Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, and Sicko. He didn’t really blow the roof off of some organization like he usually tries to do. It was basically just a retelling of his trials and tribulations in order to get young kids out to the voting booth. And he admits he fails in getting Bush out of office, but succeeded in getting voter percentage up in that age range.
Michael Moore is known for passing off his personal opinion as fact and a lot of people think he’s a sleazeball because of that. I cant help but be intrigued by any piece of film he puts out. I enjoyed all three of the previously mentioned documentaries whether I agree with his stance or not. Slacker Uprising is not like those though. Its basically a call to get people to vote in the 2008 Presidential Election by showing the progress he made in getting people to vote in the 2004 Election. Moore usually likes to bring a laid-back and less serious take to politics. He throws in some jokes, musical acts, and plays off the crowd. He tries to make politics a bit fun, which is great for a college crowd. He handed out free underwear and Ramen noodles to any slacker student that registered to vote during his speeches. He didn’t say you HAVE to vote for Kerry or Bush. He just said get out there and participate in the Presidential Election. So I think it’s a good cause.
It also contained a lot of guest appearances. Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave fame, Roseanne Barr, Eddie Vedder, Steve Earle, R.E.M., and MORE. They performed songs, did comedy, or just spoke to the crowds. And the crowds ranged from a few thousand people in some cities to 10,000+ in others. Quite amazing. Moore is a great speaker and he really can grab your attention. Sure he’s a douche sometimes and it shows when he dodges a question about his films being propaganda, but he used the footage in his film so I guess that’s brave of him. He’s not afraid of confrontation or controversy and it also makes for a good watch. This is good because its free and available online but its not on the same level as his other excellent films.
IMDB – N/A
Rotten Tomatoes – N/A
Movie Wiseguys – 6/10