From The Torontoist:

Captain Mike Across America is an interesting proposition: Michael Moore documents his tour across America in the run-up to the 2004 Presidential elections; a tour that notably failed to turn the tide of the election against George Bush. As Moore is more skilled in creating passionate (if flawed) polemics than he is at documentary film-making, someone else should have taken the reins. In Moore’s hands, this is a weird, confusingly-edited rush between states with occasional musical interludes (it’s nice to hear the Finland’s national anthem) that leaves you wondering: “Where on earth is this going?” The answer, of course, is nowhere (Kerry was a lame duck) and Moore’s glib explanation is unintentionally dispiriting. 1/5

From Cinematical:

Michael Moore’s new documentary opens with a title card explaining that we’re in Tallahassee, Florida the night before the 2004 election and immediately I thought: Uh, yeah—I think I recall how this one turned out. Chronicling Moore’s 2004 Slacker Uprising Tour—a get-out-the-vote series of speaking engagements in 20 ‘Battleground’ States—Captain Mike Across America is easily Moore’s weakest film, a self-congratulatory mess that has nothing to say about the American political process and tells you everything you need to know about the numbing cult of personality that’s sprung up around Moore. It’s not so bad that there’s a cult of personality around Moore—as I’ve said of Moore before, some Americans are so desperate for someone to speak truth to power that they’ll settle for someone saying anything to it. What’s bad is that Moore seems to be buying into his own myth, now, and here that seems both narcissistic and futile.

Moore wants to keep old grudges alive—anger about the ‘Swift Boat’ ads that ran against Kerry, anger about the decision to go to war in Iraq, anger about the 2000 election Supreme Court decision that ended Al Gore’s presidential ambitions. It’s like watching a demented cheerleader scream their lungs out over a game that was lost years ago—and was rigged in the first place. And yes, I just compared the American electoral process to a rigged game…

The Weinstein Company is distributing Captain Mike Across America, and while I rarely talk about business and distribution decisions in reviews, I do have to say this: Whatever they paid, they got taken. The film feels more like a home movie, shot on DV by Moore’s crew during the tour and incorporating newsclips obviously ripped from Tivo (they have that low-rez blur to them). And the tour itself earned speaker’s fees for Moore; his controversial appearance at Utah Valley State College alone netted him $50,000, and it was one of 62 stops. (Some of which, I’m sure, were pro bono, but still.) Captain Mike Across America couldn’t have cost very much to make—a pocket-lining vanity project on par with Bill Clinton’s gigantic, say-nothing autobiography or John McCain’s ghostwritten profiles in courage.

And it’s worth even less to watch. Moore used to be engaging because he spoke up in the face of power and he actually had something to say. But with Captain Mike Across America, he’s saying nothing, or at least nothing we haven’t heard from him before: I am angry. You should vote. I dislike George Bush. I am angry. Recently—with Bowling for Columbine, Sicko and even to a certain degree Fahrenheit 9/11-- Moore’s been making engaging, informative, opinionated and intriguing films from a passionate point of view; Captain Mike Across America is an information-free, narcissistic and self-congratulatory high-pitched whine from a sore loser.

Again… WOW. I can hardly believe my eyes at some of these reviews. It seems I’m not the only person who’s wondering why Moore has released this film and what he’s hoping to gain out of it. Again, I do believe it’s too early to call this one, but it seems that “Captain Mike Across America” is destined to be Moore’s first huge flop. This, of course, begs another question from me. If this film does truly turn out to be the cinematic flop it seems to be, how will Moore handle such a harsh rejection of his work?