Movie Review: Canadian Bacon

Micheal Moore is famous for his work in the documentary field, but he also has directed this live-action comedy, Canadian Bacon. John Candy stars as the American average joe that likes to sit back, watch TV, have a cold one and have faith in the flag. Meanwhile, the new President of the United States is loosing popularity despite the fact that he is the first President not to get us into a war. In fact, this is why he is unpopular. Advisers tell the President that a phony war has to be drawn up to get the population patriotic and supportive of him, while at the same time, starting the weapons factories up again for economic growth and job production. Indeed, one of the main reasons people are fed up with the President is that the factory workers have no where to work when there is no war. At first, the White House calls the Russians to see if they want to start up a fake cold war all over again, but they decline. After much deliberation, it is decided that propaganda and secret operations will manufacture an evil empire for the U.S. to battle; Canada. Candy, being a very patriotic citizen, falls for the whole thing and puts together a small anti-Canadian militia to help out Uncle Sam. The government now realizes that it put together something out of their hands. There isn't enough time to explain the other details of the plot, but one nice element to the story was that it stuck out as a Micheal Moore version of Dr. Strangelove.
The film is very much put together like a cheesy, half-assed kids film that would amuse a middle-schooler on a sick day, but nevertheless, there is a lot of truth and insight into the overal basis for the plot. It is very, very much a Michael Moore film, but it isn't that entertaining and you don't learn anything from it. If you are a big fan of Moore, you might want to check this out, otherwise you should just stick with his documentary work.... or just watch Dr. Strangelove.