Canadian Bacon

The President of America's ratings have dropped. What he really needs to do is get a war to get his popularity up. However the usual bad guys aren't interested so he decides to start a talking war against Canada. Using the media to stir up anti-Canadian feeling his popularity rises but a group of American citizens take it too far and prepare for invasion.

Michael Moore is a rare talent and many of his programmes and films could be used as a model for anyone wanted to do satire and be both political and funny at the same time. When he's on form he puts our own Mark Thomas into the shade. However with this film he can't take a really good idea and make it last for 90 minutes. Most scenes with the President and his media war with Canada is really sharp and really funny – just like Moore at his best.

However it's the rest of the film outside of this one point that fails. It is just a rambling comedy that doesn't have anything to say or do. Moore is a little lost and it lacks bite and, sadly, laughs. The cast try hard and Candy is watchable if not at his best. Alda is good but a bit too light and friendly to be the president. The rest of the cast are amusing in different ways – Torn, Pollack, Nunn, Spadlin, Wright, Belushi etc are all good.

Overall Moore lacks his usual bite and this one good idea is lost in a film when really it could have been a good 15 minute sketch. The media war is funny and, post 9/11, is quite sharp even though it is a little too light, but outside of that the comments, ideas and laughs dry up.

I remember hearing poor reviews from Siskel and Ebert for this film when it came out. And I see what they meant, as I watch it today. It's not as snappy as it could have been, but there are some extremely funny lines. And it's especially timely to see the news anchors and "journalists" jumping on the hate-Canada bandwagon, because they still do that today, and seeing how ridiculous the arguments are against Canada makes one think about the dubious arguments made against other countries by our "journalists."

Kevin Pollack is really funny, as is John Candy. Rhea Pearlman is overly "quirky," in my view, but otherwise, I think it really rings true today. It's worth a rental!

I assumed this would be terrible because I never heard of it but it had some funny moments. I only watched it because of Candy but he's not really the star. If I had known Alda was in it and Moore wrote it, I definitely wouldn't have watched it. Glad I did.

The premise of Canadian Bacon, that Canadians could rise up and rally to attack the United States, is as brilliant as it is hilarious. Unfortunately, it is not carried out as well as it could be. While this movie has its funny moments and a great cast, it gets bogged down at times because it appears the writers just couldn't think of enough topical humor to maintain this feature length film. It is, however, worth watching if nothing else to talk about at parties.

While it had some flaws, mostly in some incomplete development of themes and failing to make full use of the story's potential, this is a brilliantly funny satire that mostly succeeds wonderfully on many levels.

The idea to have the US pick on Canada, internationally one of the world's least offensive and bellicose countries is itself brilliant. It wonderfully picks on the US, and more generally, on any rather belligerent nation that likes to throw its weight around and create excuses for doing so.

It also picks on the use of propaganda and even on mass media and mass mob hysteria. This is especially true in the way the film portrays how the American media discusses Canada and how some members of the public react, so that the whole idea spins out of control of those who began it for their own personal reasons. I was barely able to breath with laughter throughout the whole period when the US was flashing its propaganda about Canada and showing how threatening they are, especially how they claimed the Canadians were "infiltrating" American society and were "massing" on the border. This is wonderful satire on sensationalist news stations and their willingness to use information in a wildly inaccurate and misleading manner in order to rile people up.

The film picks on everyone involved, Canadian and American alike. It attacks the stereotypes of both, highlighting their differences yet also attacking the misconceptions about both peoples. To have a number of Canadians in the film is another flash of inspiration, too, since there are Canadians playing comically stereotypical (i.e., polite, white bread, well-spoken) Canadians and Canadians playing comically stereotypical (i.e., redneck, belligerent, crude) Americans. It adds to the irony since one of the American's propaganda tools is that there are Canadian actors everywhere in the US as such integral parts of the American entertainment industry that they are taken for Americans, and lo and behold, here some are playing various people in this film.

Some parts of the film were simply silly, with jokes that were more gags rather than actually furthering the satire and points of the movie, and this is a weak spot. While some were funny and worked, others were a bit inane and the film would have been more successful had they stuck to developing the real themes and satire of the film, which are what make it great.

Anyway, despite some weak points, this film is a brilliant satire that contains a number of parts that are utterly hilarious. It did not fulfill its full potential, but it is not too far below perfect and the good parts are really, really good.