Canadian Bacon Soundtrack

Fresh from the success of Roger and Me, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore made the mistake of trying his hand at fiction film. Hoping to satirize America's leap into the Gulf War (and its abandonment of its industrial base), he wrote and directed this disappointing comedy, which fell flat despite a cast that included Alan Alda, Rip Torn, Rhea Perlman, John Candy, and Kevin Pollak. The premise is that the president (Alda) is so far down in the polls that he has to create a war to bolster his popularity; he picks a fight with Canada, demonizing the bland denizens of the Great White North to the point that a group of Niagara Falls law-enforcement types (led by Candy in one of his final film roles) decides to invade on their own initiative. There are a couple of funny moments (mostly having to do with the propaganda campaign against Canada), but otherwise, a frozen stiff. --Marshall Fine