The Big One [1997] - Region 2 DVD

To be sure, there is a certain naiveté in Moore's pro-worker take on corporate and political America--his half-serious plan for a Nike shoe factory in Flint, Michigan, makes as much business sense as coal mining on Maui--but he gives voice to well-reasoned arguments that would otherwise have been lost amid Clinton-era corporate downsizing and reliance on "temporary" employees.

In cities such as Des Moines, Minneapolis, St Louis and Portland, The Big One juxtaposes both Moore's lighthearted-sounding but deeply biting humour when speaking before bookstore patrons, and painful-to-watch confrontations with security personnel at companies such as Procter & Gamble and PayDay. (Future targets of Moore's style of journalism could take note of Nike CEO Phil Knight's fairly effective approach as Moore calls him to task on Nike's Indonesian labour.) Moore speaks clandestinely with Borders employees organising a union; a woman laid off from Ford attends Moore's Rockford, Illinois bookstore visit the same day. Though slow in spots and frustrating, if not depressing, in others, this follow up to Roger and Me is intensely funny most of the time. --Erik Macki