Michael Moore is up to his latest stunts, surprising unsuspecting movie go-ers (and some pre-alerted media) in Washington Friday night with an unusual sneak peak to his latest film on the financial bailout. But Yeas & Nays wonders if the renegade documentarian is losing his revolutionary edge, getting beaten out by the creative minds posting to YouTube.
Friday night, movie-goers in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and here at Loews Georgetown were surprised to see the lights in the theater come on right before the start of their feature film. They had Moore to thank, who came on the screen asking them to “join [him] in helping our fellow Americans” and donate to “save the CEOs.” Right then a group of about 20 Georgetown University students carrying canisters walked through the theater to collect money to save such companies as Citibank, A.I.G, and Bank of America.
If this theme sounds familiar to some, that may be because a video from the website FunnyorDie.com features a similar stunt. Back on October 1, two actors in New York City went to the streets and asked passers-by to donate money. Entitled “Pennies for the Bailout,” John Anderson and Jason Selvig – dressed as Wall Street investment bankers – begged people to help save Jason’s fifth home and complained about having to take the taxi versus the company car and Jason no longer being able to afford a hotel room to cheat on his wife.
“If 700 billion of you each donated one hundred pennies we would be well on our way to a solution,” they plead, holding out containers for donations.
If the stunt for the film’s trailer is copied from prior stunts, wonder just how original the movie – which is still filming – will be. Has Moore been eclipsed by Web 2.0? Guess we’ll have to wait for the movie.
