In a bid to illustrate...something...Michael Moore sent a whole bunch of out-of-work actors to the Loews theater in Manhattan to record the reaction to the trailer for his new film, which takes on the government bailout. The volunteers had the message "Save Our CEOs" emblazoned on their T-shirts and on tin cans that innocent, trapped moviegoers could donate money into, if they wanted.
This footage...we need to talk about it.
OK, look. Obviously, I don't want this blog to get quoted on redstate.com or wherever, but there's so much manufactured badness here:
· The ADR'd in audience applause, which is clearly not coming from the actual footage of people sitting in the audience, stone-faced.
· The faint, twice looped-in line of someone ordering, "Empty those pockets...or not," which was probably recorded by an Overture intern.
· The fact that the audience's middling reaction is no doubt intended to Mean Something about their thoughts on the government bailout, when it probably has more to do with the fact that they'd really like to watch The Hangover and could someone please dim the house lights?
· And then there's the trailer itself with its stuttery, first-take line readings, which kind of feels like Michael Moore had this whole idea on Thursday and was like, "Go!"
VERDICT: We're bailing.