Canadian Bacon

With the political races heating up and tensions mounting overseas, I thought it would be the perfect time to take a look back at an under appreciated gem from 1995, Canadian Bacon.

When his poll numbers begin to drop, The President of the United States, Alan Alda, is desperate to increase his popularity. He laments to his National Security Advisor, Kevin Pollack, and his top Army General, Rip Torn, that he wishes he had an enemy to go to war with to boost his approval ratings.

Around the same time, a brawl breaks out at a hockey match in Niagara Falls between American sherriff Bud Boomer, John Candy, and a group of Canadians after Bud say's that Canadian beer sucks. The fight ends up on the news and the President's two confidants see this as an opportunity to play puppet master. They advise the President that he should go to war with Canada. He anounces that Canada could be a potential threat, which triggers the gun ho Bud, his wife Honey, Rhea Perleman, and buddies Jabar, Bill Nunn, and Roy Boy, Kevin O'Conner, to cross over the border and stir up trouble, which in turn, makes matters worse.

In his only non documentary feature, Michael Moore shows that he has a real gift for comedy while still getting a message across. Really not a surprise since his documentaries have a lot of humor as well. I would love to see him do another feature someday.

The cast is terrific, especially the Canadian born Candy in his last film to be released. He passed away while making Wagon's East, but this movie was held up due troubles between the studio and Moore. Since Candy had passed away before release, the studio wanted Moore to take out all of the scenes where Candy is smoking, which was most of them. Moore said they were ridiculous and got his way. Unfortunately the studio only gave it a limited release.

There's some great cameo's in this as well from Dan Aykroyd, Steven Wright, and Moore himself as an American gun supporter.

Canadian Bacon is a smart and funny film that eerily parallels a lot of current events. Plus it's a nice reminder of what a talent Candy was.

And, if you are reading, I'd like to wish a good day to my Canadian friend Patrick.

It's available on dvd.