''Michael Moore Hates America'' is a

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed by Michael Wilson that criticizes the work of film director

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...

. It premiered September 12, 2004, in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, at the American Film Renaissance

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

Overview

The film and its poster are patterned after Moore's film ''

Roger & Me ''Roger & Me'' is a 1989 American documentary film written, produced, directed by, and starring Michael Moore, in his directorial debut. Moore portrays the regional economic impact of General Motors CEO Roger Smith's action of closing several ...

'', during which Moore attempts to chase down Roger Bonham Smith for an interview. In this case, Wilson seeks an interview with Moore. Wilson also adopts other aspects of Moore's style in his efforts at

satirizing Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposing or ...

Moore. For instance, Wilson interviews a mix of Americans across the country and well-known figures like conservatives

Dinesh D'Souza Dinesh Joseph D'Souza (; born April 25, 1961) is an American Right-wing politics, right-wing political commentator, conspiracy theorist, author, and filmmaker. He has made several films and written over a dozen books, several of them The New Y ...

David Horowitz David Joel Horowitz (January 10, 1939 – April 29, 2025) was an American conservative writer and activist. He was a founder and president of the David Horowitz Freedom Center (DHFC); editor of the Center's website '' FrontPage Magazine''; and ...

and

Andrew Breitbart Andrew James Breitbart (; February 1, 1969 – March 1, 2012) was an American conservative journalist and political commentator who was the founder of '' Breitbart News'' and a co-founder of ''HuffPost''. After helping in the early stages of '' ...

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

Albert Maysles Albert Maysles (November 26, 1926 – March 5, 2015) and his brother David Maysles (January 10, 1931 – January 3, 1987; ) were an American documentary filmmaking team known for their work in the Direct Cinema style. Their best-known films in ...

and fellow

libertarians Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

such as

Penn Jillette Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955) is an American Magic (illusion), magician, actor, comedian, musician, inventor, television presenter, and author, best known for his work with fellow magician Teller (magician), Teller as half of the t ...

and

Tim Slagle Tim Slagle (born August 13, 1958) is an American stand-up comedian, writer/editor and a political pundit. His material leans towards political satire. He is known for his regular contributions to ''Liberty'' magazine. He currently lives in the ...

. Wilson revisits some of Moore's shooting locations and subjects from ''

'' and ''

Bowling for Columbine ''Bowling for Columbine'' is a 2002 documentary film written, produced, directed, and narrated by Michael Moore. The documentary film explores what Moore suggests are the primary causes for the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 and other a ...

'', and criticizes many aspects of Moore's films by alleging they include fabrications and misrepresentations. For example, a scene from the Moore film ''Bowling for Columbine'' depicting the

NRA NRA may refer to: Organizations Asia and Oceania * National Railway Administration, the national railway regulator of China * National Recruitment Agency, Central Recruiting Agency of the Indian Government * New Revolutionary Alternative, an anar ...

as callous and uncaring about victims of shootings is criticized by Wilson. Wilson also criticizes a scene in ''Columbine'' in which Moore enters a bank in

Traverse City, Michigan Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, Michigan, Grand Traverse County, although it partly extends into Leelanau County, Michigan, Leelanau County. The city's population was 15, ...

, and walks out with a gun that he received as a perk for opening a deposit account. Wilson asserts that this scene is fabrication, and that Michael Moore had grossly misled, and in some cases lied, to the staff of the bank in order to get his desired shots for the ''Columbine'' film. Numerous other subjects of Moore's films were later interviewed by Wilson in the ''Michael Moore Hates America'' film, many of which decried Moore's work as overt propaganda, including double-arm amputee soldier Peter Damon in ''Fahrenheit 9/11'' who stated on camera for Wilson, "I want nothing to do with that man

oore Oore is a village in Tori Parish, Pärnu County in southwestern Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the B ...

and his propaganda."

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film was found to receive a generally positive reception, with 75% of critics giving the movie favorable reviews. Some critics favored the film's examination of Moore's methods. The film was also nominated for Best Documentary from the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. Ebert and Roeper gave it “Two thumbs up”.

References

External links

* * {{rotten-tomatoes, 1183735 2004 films Films about Michael Moore American documentary films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language documentary films