Sicko (2007)

New York Times
"[Moore] has never before made a film that stated his bedrock ideological principles so clearly and accessibly." 06/22/2007 p.E1

Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Moore brings a blunt clarity to the table....Moore's brutally comic take on matters of life and death is just the ticket....Moore delivers a movie of robust mind and heart." 06/28/2007 p.80

Entertainment Weekly
"SICKS is outspoken in its dismay that a country as rich and powerful as the United States should force so many of its citizens to gamble on the odds of sustained good health." -- Grade: B 07/13/2007 p.50

Uncut
3 stars out of 5 -- "Moore's populist bombast serves the same commendable purpose as ever, turning a worthy social issue into serious-minded blockbuster entertainment." 11/01/2007 p.149

Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "SICKO is a shocker....It's Moore's strong affection for his homeland that fuels these howls of outrage." 11/01/2007 p.48

Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "[I]mpassioned cinema....Crusading stuff, bluntly and brilliantly argued." 11/01/2007 p.54

Sight and Sound
"A trawl of witnesses betrayed by HMOs shows his filmmaking at its most brilliant, and raises the odd bitter laugh....Moore also nails the guilty politicians with vigour and relish..." 12/01/2007 p.91

ReelViews 8 of 10
For those living in the United States, watching Sicko isn't an uplifting experience. Moore, as has been adequately reported over the years, isn't a hard-hitting journalist or a documentarian in the traditional sense of the job description. He's more of a rabble rouser and a button pusher. His ego often gets in the way of his making a point (as happens on several occasions during Sicko), but he knows how to edit and spin in such a way that even the driest of topics can become compulsively watchable...Moore's thesis and approach in Sicko is straightforward, and the film hangs together a lot better than his previous rant, Fahrenheit 9/11, which lacked focus...Whether Moore is preaching to the converted and whether there are flaws in his sermon doesn't detract from the import of the message. As is his trademark, he does what he can to impart a degree of entertainment to a serious subject...Most importantly, regardless of its overall veracity, it provides an opportunity for open and frank dialogue about an issue that has been politicized and ignored for far too long in this country. Whatever anyone's feelings may be about Michael Moore, it's hard to disagree with his argument that health care in the United States is broken and needs to be fixed. - James Berardinelli
 
Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
If you heard the story, you remember it. A few weeks ago, a woman bled to death in an emergency room, while her husband and a bystander both called 911 to report she was being ignored. They were ignored. She was already in the E.R., wasn't she?...Her death came too late to be included in "Sicko," Michael Moore's litany of horrors about the American health care system, which is run for profit, and insurance companies, which pay bonuses to employees who are successful in denying coverage or claims...Moore plays 1971 tapes from the Oval Office as Nixon discusses the original Kaiser plan for an HMO. "It's for profit," he says admiringly. Have you ever understood exactly what benefit an HMO provides while it stands between you and the medical care system and acts as a toll bridge?...Yes, nitpickers can find fault with any attack on our system. There are four health care lobbyists for every congressman. But there's room for irony when the owner of an anti-Moore Web site can't afford to maintain it when his wife gets sick. And room for tears when a claims investigator for an insurance company tells Congress she knows she was her company's instrument for denying clients care they needed that might have saved their lives. - Roger Ebert