Sicko 2007

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: A better, more focused effort than Fahrenheit 9/11 or Bowling for Columbine. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Mr. Moore has hardly been shy about sharing his political beliefs, but he has never before made a film that stated his bedrock ideological principles so clearly and accessibly. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Sicko is Moore's best film: a documentary that mixes outrage, hope, and gonzo stunts in the right proportions; and that throws an unforgiving spotlight on what is, in both senses, the elephant in the room. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Lots of Sicko stands as boffo political theater, but its major domo lost me by losing his sense of humor. Read more

Mark Rahner, Seattle Times: Moore has finally made a moving, whimsical, infuriating film that won't just infuriate the right-wingers who've made a cottage industry out of hating him nor sing to the liberal choir who supports even his shadiest arguments. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Here's an issue that transcends politics and speaks to basic human need and collective responsibility; perhaps we need Moore's cudgel to make the case bluntly. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: A compelling, tear-jerking look at a vital piece of our infrastructure gone awry. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Sicko is Moore's best, most focused movie to date -- much more persuasive than the enraged and self-righteous Fahrenheit 9/11. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: This is essential viewing -- informative, corrosive, and even sometimes hilarious. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: Michael Moore's latest documentary-as-soapbox-vituperation is a damning, touching, darkly comical expose on the United States health-care system. Read more

Tom Charity, CNN.com: It's not impossible that this bitterly funny, bitterly sad call to alms could move reform back up the political agenda. For that reason alone, you owe it to yourself to see this movie. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: It may incite lawmakers in a position to help to trumpet their faux proletarian credentials. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Sicko is a teaspoonful of documentary sugar in a summer of popcorn salt. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: It's doubtful even Michael Moore would claim Sicko as the last word on the subject. But it is a first word -- a very loud first word -- and while it may have been said better, at least Moore said it. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: If other countries can provide their people with universal health care, why can't we? If we can't, who are we? Read more

Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com: This is a movie to see in a theater. It'a group experience. All through the show you'll hear people laughing, crying, muttering, cheering, sighing, swearing, and gasping. And at the end, chances are they'll be on their feet applauding. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Moore could open a lot of eyes with Sicko but as the song says, we don't need another hero, especially one self-proclaimed. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Raise your hand if you've had any Kafka-like health insurance dilemmas. Yes, that's a lot of hands. And as it turns out, at least one has been severed. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: We Americans inevitably feel we know the best way to do everything, but the great accomplishment of Sicko is that it is difficult to watch this slyly confrontational film and remain sure. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: A great piece of populist outrage and a dangerously good comedy about a looming American tragedy, as Moore details the lock-hold on American health care by drug and insurance companies, and the eagerness of politicians to be bought into submission by them Read more

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: Sicko represents Moore's most mature work as a filmmaker. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Moore may play loose with the facts, but you don't have to believe every frame in the movie to come away thinking that the message in Sicko is not only worthwhile, it is also inarguable. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: What's most striking about Sicko is how composed, even serene it is compared with Michael Moore's previous acts of cinematic insurgency. Read more

John Hartl, Newsweek: "Who are we?" might be a better (if less jazzy) title for Sicko, Michael Moore's two-hour meditation on the sickly qualities of American health care. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Moore winds up treating the audience the same way that, he says, powerful people treat the weak in America -- as dopes easily satisfied with fairy tales and bland reassurances. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: Why give Moore a free pass just because you support his ideologies? In the end, the real loyalty we owe is to truth. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: There's plenty of grandstanding, most of it very funny. And in this instance, all that sizzle is selling the steak. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Sicko, which takes on America's profoundly profitable and catastrophically inefficient health care system, is Moore's most assured, least antagonistic and potentially most important film. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: The silliness of Moore's oeuvre is so self-evident that being able to spot it is a basic intelligence test, like the ability to match square peg with square hole. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: One may quibble with Mr. Moore's anecdotal oversimplifications and his xenophilic fantasies, but he has struck a socio-psychic nerve in the body politic, generating a feeling of outrage that seems to be reverberating in every theater. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: The film is an alternately depressing and uplifting experience, a documentary whose ironies -- taking sick Americans to Cuba for cheaper, better health care -- won't be lost on anybody. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Sicko, the professional provocateur's most accomplished and fervent film, is what the movie doc prescribes for temporary relief from the chronic headache that is the American health-care system. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Whatever anyone's feelings may be about Michael Moore, it's hard to disagree with his argument that health care in the United States is broken and needs to be fixed. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Moore's films usually make conservatives angry. This one is likely to strike home with anyone, left or right, who has had serious illness in the family. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: May I introduce a new phrase into the Franglais dictionary? C'etait un slam-dunk. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: At the very least, he's raised a warning flag that shouldn't be ignored. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Sicko will scare people, and it probably should. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Even Moore's worst ideological enemies would be hard put to dispute the basic argument of his new film Sicko: The American health-care system is a sick joke and has been for a very long time. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Michael Moore takes aim at his easiest target to date, and no doubt the hit he scores will become a hit. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Sicko is worth seeing -- as long as the big grain of salt needed for it is put on more than just the popcorn. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: As both harangue and movie tragicomedy, Sicko is socko. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: 'Sicko' is a quieter, more focused and less feral beast than its predecessor, 'Fahrenheit 9/11', but that's not saying much. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Though the focus occasionally strays, the film emerges as a fascinating exploration and powerful indictment of a pressing national problem. This is Moore's biggest, best and most impassioned work. Read more

Alissa Simon, Variety: An affecting and entertaining dissection of the American health care industry, showing how it benefits the few at the expense of the many. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: Sicko, an investigation and indictment of a system choking on paperwork, greed, bad policy and countervailing goals, turns out to be a fuzzy, toothless collection of anecdotes, a few stunts and a bromide-rich conclusion. Read more