Canadian Bacon (1995)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Michael Moore

Writer (WGA):

Michael Moore (written by)

Release Date:

22 September 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

It Gets Lonely at the Top, When There's No More Butt to Kick.

Plot:

The U.S. President, low in the opinion polls, gets talked into raising his popularity by trying to start a cold war against Canada.

Plot Keywords:

Niagara Falls | U.S. President | Canada | Special Forces | Food In Title

Cast

John Candy	...	Sheriff Bud Boomer
Alan Alda	...	President of the United States
Rhea Perlman	...	Honey
Kevin Pollak	...	Stu Smiley
Rip Torn	...	General Dick Panzer
Kevin J. O'Connor	...	Roy Boy
Bill Nunn	...	Kabral
G.D. Spradlin	...	R. J. Hacker (as G. D. Spradlin)
Steven Wright	...	Niagara Mountie
James Belushi	...	Charles Jackal (as Jim Belushi)
Brad Sullivan	...	Gus
Stanley Anderson	...	Edwin S. Simon
Richard Council	...	Russian President
Wallace Shawn	...	Canadian Prime Minister
Michael Copeman	...	Panzer's Aide

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild language and violence.

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:PG (NO. 33582) | Canada:PG (Canadian Home Video rating) | Iceland:L | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Buffalo, New York, USA

Company:

Dog Eat Dog Films

Trivia:

The final note in the credits, "To Johnny LaRue - thanks to you, we got our crane shot", is a reference to one of John Candy's recurring characters on "SCTV Channel" (1983) .

Goofs:

Continuity: Sheriff Boomer sprays French translations onto the side of his truck. In the next shot, the truck has only English.

Quotes:

Boomer: There it is, men. Toronto.
Roy Boy: It's beautiful. Like no other city I've ever seen. It's like Albany. Only cleaner.

Movie Connections:

References The Alamo (1960)

Soundtrack:

Toy Never Played With

Brilliant Satire

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.