It took 30 years for life to imitate art. But here we are.
For the uninitiated, Michael Moore’s satirical opus follows a desperate US President (Alan Alda) who decides that the suspiciously polite neighbors up north pose an existential threat – and essentially starts a beef with Canada. Because conflict is good for approval ratings. Legendary John Candy leads the charge as a naive sheriff who takes the anti-Canadian propaganda way too seriously, turning into a maple syrup-hating crusader against the Great White North.
I’ve got a real soft spot for this one, the film once seemed like an innocent and absurdist satire, but it’s proven itself practically Carl Sagan-level prescient about recent politically manufactured conflicts and the effect of propaganda on the xenophobically predisposed. It’s a good one to keep on the shelf between Mars Attacks and Strange Brew.