The Awful Truth

Talk to anyone and you will find a mixed bag of opinions on this radical filmmaker's work. Some will literally hate Michael Moore for expanding the truth and others will love him for uncovering it. No matter which you feel, we can all agree that Michael Moore has done one great thing … he has changed the face of documentary film-making. He has kicked down the door for the possibility of others to release their 'unfundable' projects that studios now see as moneymakers because of Moore's success. He has introduced documentaries back into the mainstream cinemas, and perhaps our world is ready for it. I get tired of watching cartoons on the screen, and cannot wait to get my hands around a juicy documentary whenever it is released.

That is why when this series was released on DVD I immediately ran to buy it. Not only do you get some great Michael Moore moments, but also you get to see avenues of our society that we do not take a moment and look at. There is a lot of wrong in this world, and especially in America. Those that are not honest sometimes use to media to change their image and therefore giving us a false sense of security. Moore, in his short lived series, takes random ideas and sets them in motion. One of my favorites is the FICA for Congress sketches. I think I enjoyed it so much because it showed America's reaction to his idea. He was not alone in this battle, and we knew it.

As I stated before, Moore is not for everyone. He is for the open-minded individual that is not afraid to ask the question 'why'. This was a beautiful series that has made me happy to see on DVD. For those that cannot stand his longer films, this would be the perfect venue to view his topics.

I do want to say that no matter how you feel about his work, you must first see it before you criticize. Never judge a book by its cover, and never judge a wealthy politician. While we will think that life is best here in America, sometimes it takes a lone voice to point out the obvious. Michael Moore has accepted the challenge, and is forcing Americans to look up instead of burying our faces in our day to day activities. We have the power to change everything … let us do it!

Overall, this series was nothing short than Moore's brilliance in small snippets. I think this series should be on everyone's DVD must-see list.

Grade: ***** out of *****

Michael Moore's short lived "TV Nation" gets a long awaited resurrection and make-over with "The Awful Truth" which demonstrates the true power and potential of television. Michael Moore is the documentarian behind "Roger And Me" and "The Big One" and author of "Downsize This".

The show aired in Canada for the first time on Sunday, May 16, 1999 at 8:30 pm EST and has already proved it's worth in less than thirty minutes. It's also hilarious, and funnier than anything that could ever be scripted.

Two segments were featured in this program, one dealing with mock Witch Hunts in Washington, but the more moving piece, focused on 34 year old Diabetic Chris Donahue, father of a 4 year old girl, whose health insurance company (or HMO if you prefer), Humana, rejected his claim for an operation for a pancreas transplant. Without the operation, he would surely die, and so Michael Moore came to his aid.

First Chris went to Florida's Palm Beach Post to place his own obituary. Then Michael invited Humana to come help the ailing man choose a coffin for Chris. Then he invited them to Chris' funeral party, with Chris displaying his bright red custom made T-shirt that read "I signed with Humana and all I got was this lousy t-shirt, but no pancreas". Then they had a rehearsal funeral outside Humana's offices. Finally, in less than a week, the company cracked, accepted the claim, thereby saving the man's life, and revised their policies on all claims for pancreas transplants.

With an incredibly moving moment to end the show on, the grateful Chris showed his appreciation from the studio audience with his family to a rousing standing ovation.

Do yourself a favour, catch this show, have a laugh, and watch an important crusader do what he does best, make slimy corporations very nervous, and improving the world a bit at a time.

Big-time Republican here. My friends all hate Moore. I like him.

THE AWFUL TRUTH, while not a consistently funny show, does have lots of laughs. I admire Moore for his ballsy approach to people. You see plenty of it in this series.

He makes his points (usually) and even though I don't agree with 90% of his tripe, I like the show.

My favorite show was when he put a Fica plant in an election. That's typical of something Moore would do; his sarcasm is over-the-top and it usually works well. Sometimes, there is way too much of it - but I'll take the bad with the good.

I'd like to watch another series like this by Moore. I hope he does another one day.

When I was about 15 years old or so, I happened to come across a show on television called "TV Nation." I was completely enthralled by every episode I saw before my local station decided not to continue carrying the show, no doubt in favor of such quality shows as "Friends" or "Touched By An Angel." I thought that "TV Nation" was the best thing to ever happen to television, and I went out and watched as much Michael Moore as I possibly could.

So when the complete first season of "The Awful Truth" came out on video, I knew I had to watch every episode, probably more than twice. I was completely confident that Moore would once again delight and inform me as he did eight years ago.

I quite enjoyed the first episode, how to run a Witch Hunt and the invitation to the funeral. I think my favorite episode so far is the Beat The Rich/Soddomobile one-two knockout. Moore has always been brilliant at staging stunts to shock and embarrass.

But the more I watched the show, the more I noticed: that's all he does. He doesn't really try to change anything, bring any new information to light, or challenge anyone's viewpoints. His documentaries seem to serve as either efforts to upset industrial and capitalist giants or slaps on the back to people of like mindset. "Oh, I'm so glad we're middle class/Liberal/gay-positive, because upper class/Republican/fundamentalist people are so dumb!"

Being a middle class gay-positive liberal, I enjoyed every single episode of "The Awful Truth"s first season. I just wish it had a little more bite and merit as opposed to being a series of mostly impotent guerilla attacks on people and ideas that deserve more focused attention.

Many of the segments are difficult to watch, such as the voice-box choir or Moore's awkward conversation with Lucianne Goldberg, and that gives the show merit. If it was a comfortable show to watch all the time, it'd be a Liberal "60 Minutes." Moore gets to focus our attention on the bad points in America, and hints at the possibilities behind our cold impersonal modernity. At this he succeeds: the shock value of correspondents such as Crackers The Crime Fighting Chicken force eyes to focus on problems that everyone knows about but ignores whenever possible. I congratulate the man on a mostly successful effort and hope that he continues his crusade proudly and does not become a caricature of himself in later years. Rating: 8/10.

Michael Moore is a pathetic fat *** that's wasting oxygen. He has diluted both himself, and every single one of his followers into believing all of his lies. I don't need to explain myself, read any website exploiting Moore's lies, the list is too long.

The reason America is considered so stupid, is because of idiots that believe him in the first place. Although, the biggest irony of them all, is that while he bad mouths capitalists and successful entrepreneurs about being greedy and cheats, while they may be, he is even worse. The number of books with fallacious information and movies he's sold, has made him just as wealthy, greedy and a liar.

Michael Moore is a hypocrite and deceives the generally stupid and vulnerable population. This man has no honor, loyalty, courage or integrity, things that I've learned and embraced in the Army for 10 years, protecting this country's freedom, something Moore will never comprehend.