Bowling for Columbine
dir. Michael Moore

Opens Fri Oct 18 at the Egyptian.

For the FIrst 20 minutes or so, Michael Moore's new film seems poised to follow in the footsteps of his past work--some hilarious moments during which liberals can congratulate themselves for recognizing glaring hypocrisies... and little else. In Bowling for Columbine, he spends some time with members of the Michigan militia (who are so eager to seem rational that they come off like nutbars), Terry Nichols' psycho brother, and a flack for Lockheed Martin, and these segments bear the hallmarks of the classic Moore interview technique: give 'em some rope, then edit to make sure they hang themselves with it. (It's either ironic or poetic that Michael Moore has made a film about guns, considering what a nice living he makes shooting fish in a barrel.) Admittedly, there is a deeply satisfying irony in watching a representative of the world's largest weapons manufacturer stand in front of a football-field-sized missile tube and claim not to see any distinction between the arms industry and gun use in America. But during other scenes, such as when a Littleton landlord starts unexpectedly crying about Columbine, the filmmaker's presence (on-camera, no less) feels inappropriate, self-serving.

When the film turns to the events of Columbine, however, it enters a state of grace that lands with devastating severity. Moore shows security-cam footage of the assault, narrated only by 911 tapes, and then cuts to one week later, at the NRA rally in Littleton, where Charlton "anything for applause" Heston is revving up the pro-gun lobby (intercut with the wrenching anti-gun rally where victims' parents gather in tearful outrage). It's a fantastic sequence, unfortunately followed by several others that fail to live up to its wallop. Some are diverting (interviews with Matt Stone and Marilyn Manson), some are shrewd (a country-by-country list of gun murder statistics, culminating in a great trip to Canada), and some are just crass (a précis of 20th-century atrocities accompanied by "What a Wonderful World"). What they mostly are, however, is rambling.

Bowling for Columbine is a film about a huge subject, desperately grasping for a thesis. For a while, Moore seems on to something--a culture of fear endemic to our country--but in the end, he shortchanges the psychological complexity in favor of cheap shots: ambushing Heston at home, cornering a K-Mart exec, and so forth. It's too bad, because the movie and the director have so much momentum; Moore, for all his pomposity, is the only man alive who could get a film like this made and seen. He clearly cares, and considering his influence with lockstep liberals, he had the opportunity to say something great here. He almost does, but ultimately doesn't. Can't, maybe. Because he isn't really a social critic, he's a demagogue. His art is being a self-righteous smartass, which makes it all the more frustrating when you agree with him.