Parents' Guide to

Capitalism: A Love Story

By James Rocchi, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Docu on corporate misdeeds names names, makes mistakes.

Movie R 2009 105 minutes
Capitalism: A Love Story Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 12+

Based on 10 parent reviews

age 10+

education against corporate greed

Great family values movie with my kids ages 10 and up. It took a hard look at corrupt banking practices. Of course, it is painful to acknowledge so much greed, but the movie was spliced together with so much creative and comic relief, that artistically, it was pleasant to watch. The positive role models were many: airline pilots, active union workers, a few good politicians, businesses like Alvardo St. bakery and Isthmus Engineering who run democratic businesses, 3 Catholic priests and a bishop, Pres. Roosevelt and Carter, etc. Although there was dismay, there was also hope. In one example, Bank of America took 25 billion in tax payer money from the bailout, and then refused to pay laid-off workers their last earned check. Fortunately, enough media attention corrected this injustice. There were a few swear words, but the overall tone of the movie was more wholesome than most PG movies, despite its R rating. A swear word by an elderly disabled mid-westerner who was almost in tears at losing his family farm seems in context with the tragedy. It had no violence, sexism, racism, nor any intense scenes. I didn't notice anything sexual or promoting alcohol besides clips from some campy 1950s luxury advertisements, shown in jest. There are positive interviews with the priests and bishop and clips of laid-off workers taking communion wafers and making the sign of the cross.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
age 2+

this is true

this is the truth i dont care if its graphic u should stop lieing to ur kids and show them this if u cant muster up the courage to tell them how bad it is urself

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (10 ):
Kids say (9 ):

Much of an audience's reaction to Capitalism: A Love Story will depend on their patience for Moore -- as in previous films, the director is also the on-screen star. His analysis is strong, but the film is weakened by his familiar lazy tricks. If you have experts who can (and will) talk about how banks and mortgage brokers have hurt America and Americans with thier practices, why spend time on unfunny "bits" like backing a armored car up to various banks in New York and demanding that executives come out and give back the money they got during the bailout?

But when Moore's film is headed in the right direction -- whether he's talking about how large corporations take out life insurance policies on their employees so that they profit in the event of those employees' deaths or he's looking at the legal and lobbying tactics behind the bailout while explaining the intimate link between the Federal Treasury and the investment banks it propped up with the bailout -- it's strong. Ultimately, though, Capitalism: A Love Story is so wandering and weakened by Moore's style that its moments of rich, righteous fury are diluted by Moore's own excesses and stylistic choices.

Movie Details

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