Why Michael Moore is releasing ‘Slacker Nation’ for free online

Is the director showing gratitude to his fans, or just pushing his agenda?

Michael Moore is releasing his latest documentary Slacker Uprising for free online, said Xan Brooks in a Guardian blog, which is not only “a first for a major Hollywood release,” but will also “leave him an estimated $1m out of pocket.”

If Moore is “really doing this out of gratitude” to his fans and “not because he had some sort of trouble getting distribution,” said Josh Tyler in the blog Cinema Blend, then “he’s definitely putting his money where his mouth is.”

Well, he’s also trying to rally the youth vote, said the blog APP Scout. And it just might work—“Moore is a cultural force to be reckoned with.”

That’s right, said Stuart Heritage in the blog Heckler Spray, and it’s his “duty to ram hectoring, boorish, borderline propaganda-ish political information down everyone’s throats until they literally fart tedium.”