If other countries can provide their people with universal health care, why can't we? If we can't, who are we?
Sicko (2007)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:41
Fresh:36
Rotten:5
Average Rating:7.4/10
Consensus: Though some consider his political bent divisive, Michael Moore's humanism is pretty universal in this devastating, convincing, and very entertaining expose of America’s health care system. Moore's permissive to download Sicko paired with the film's activity-inspiring website made it a considerable accomplishment in grassroots activism.
Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins
Genre: Education/General Interest
Theatrical Release:Jun 29, 2007 Wide
Box Office: $24,333,911
Synopsis: America's most incendiary filmmaker, Michael Moore, returned in 2007 with this health-care-industry exposé. SICKO tackles material as controversial as the topics explored in Moore's other films,... America's most incendiary filmmaker, Michael Moore, returned in 2007 with this health-care-industry exposé. SICKO tackles material as controversial as the topics explored in Moore's other films, yet does so in a way that places the focus on ordinary Americans affected by the nation's health-care crisis. After providing some historical background on how our nation's medical care system became so ravaged and unfair, Moore interviews a series of individuals and families who have had their lives all but destroyed by the denial of care in the service of profit. While there are two sides to the gun-control debate and even a legitimate discourse for how to best wage the war on terror, it's simply impossible to justify how a baby girl can wind up dead because her mother's health insurance wasn't accepted at a nearby hospital. Moore smartly allows this and other stories to be told with little or no interference, conjuring strong feelings of empathy, rage, and deep sadness. Of course, SICKO isn't a PBS documentary, it's a Michael Moore movie, and his fingerprints are all over it. Moore visits countries that have universal health care--spectacularly so when he takes several World Trade Center workers to Guantanamo Bay (and then to Cuba) to receive health care that they were denied in the United States--and presents a compelling argument for adopting a similar system in the States. Moore's ultimate purpose here is to compel Americans to care for one another, and it's a simple request that shockingly must be made via a major motion picture, making SICKO essential viewing. [More]
Starring: Michael Moore
Starring: Michael Moore
Director: Michael Moore
Director: Michael Moore
Producer: Kathleen Glynn, Michael Moore, Meghan O'Hara
Studio: Weinstein Company
Get This Movie
Reviews for Sicko
Though the focus occasionally strays, the film emerges as a fascinating exploration and powerful indictment of a pressing national problem. This is Moore's biggest, best and most impassioned work.
One may quibble with Mr. Moore’s anecdotal oversimplifications and his xenophilic fantasies, but he has struck a socio-psychic nerve in the body politic, generating a feeling of outrage that seems to be reverberating in every theater.
This is a movie to see in a theater. It'a group experience. All through the show you'll hear people laughing, crying, muttering, cheering, sighing, swearing, and gasping. And at the end, chances are they'll be on their feet applauding.
Sicko is worth seeing -- as long as the big grain of salt needed for it is put on more than just the popcorn.
“Who are we?” might be a better (if less jazzy) title for Sicko, Michael Moore’s two-hour meditation on the sickly qualities of American health care.
Michael Moore's latest documentary-as-soapbox-vituperation is a damning, touching, darkly comical exposé on the United States health-care system.
It's doubtful even Michael Moore would claim Sicko as the last word on the subject. But it is a first word -- a very loud first word -- and while it may have been said better, at least Moore said it.
Moore could open a lot of eyes with Sicko but as the song says, we don't need another hero, especially one self-proclaimed.
Sicko is a teaspoonful of documentary sugar in a summer of popcorn salt.
Raise your hand if you've had any Kafka-like health insurance dilemmas. Yes, that's a lot of hands. And as it turns out, at least one has been severed.
Moore's films usually make conservatives angry. This one is likely to strike home with anyone, left or right, who has had serious illness in the family.
Sicko is Moore's best, most focused movie to date -- much more persuasive than the enraged and self-righteous Fahrenheit 9/11.
Michael Moore takes aim at his easiest target to date, and no doubt the hit he scores will become a hit.
It's not impossible that this bitterly funny, bitterly sad call to alms could move reform back up the political agenda. For that reason alone, you owe it to yourself to see this movie.
Lots of Sicko stands as boffo political theater, but its major domo lost me by losing his sense of humor.
We Americans inevitably feel we know the best way to do everything, but the great accomplishment of Sicko is that it is difficult to watch this slyly confrontational film and remain sure.
Sicko, the professional provocateur's most accomplished and fervent film, is what the movie doc prescribes for temporary relief from the chronic headache that is the American health-care system.
Sicko is Moore's most satisfying and mature film, with few cheap shots or transparent publicity stunts.
Latest News for Sicko
January 11, 2008:
Juno, No Country for Old Men Among Writers Guild Award Nominees
If there's one Hollywood awards ceremony that you'd think would be able to go off without a hitch this year, it'd be the Writers Guild Awards -- but you'd be wrong. More...
January 09, 2008:
No Country for Old Men, Juno, There Will Be Blood Lead Critics' Choice Winners
In what seems destined to go down as one of the season's few strike-free awards shows, the Critics' Choice Awards were held on Monday. More...
December 10, 2007:
There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men Top Critics' Awards
Multiple honorees from four regional critics' circles include the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men, P.T. Anderson's There Will Be Blood, Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell... More...
November 20, 2007:
Fifteen Documentaries Vie for Oscar Consideration
A little over a week after reporting the names of the dozen films being submitted for Oscar consideration in the animated feature film category, Variety has given readers the... More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 67% 67% | Public Enemies |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 95% 95% | The Cove |
| 85% 85% | World's Greatest Dad |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Fresh Links
Featured

Techland lists the best Sci-Fi films of this decade.

Moviefone takes a look back at the biggest stinkers of the past 10 years.

The Me and Orson Welles star answers reader questions on TIME.com.

Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill offers his thoughts on what the best decade for film was.

In the AV Club's "Scenic Routes," Mike D'Angelo reminisces about the Tim Burton film.
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!



Top Critic



