Roger & Me | Rotten Tomatoes

Roger & Me

R

Released Dec 20, 1989

1 hr. 31 min.

Documentary

List

100%

31 Reviews

Tomatometer

79%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Ex-journalist Michael Moore demands answers when General Motors suddenly closes the doors of all its auto plants in the Flint, Michigan, the city where he grew up. With over 30,000 people out of work, Flint is economically devastated, and Moore aims to track down General Motors CEO Roger Smith to make him answer for his actions. While on the search, Moore also chronicles the emotional effect the closings have had on his family and friends, while violent crimes begin to skyrocket in Flint.

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Dave S

Michael Moore cut his teeth on guerrilla documentaries with 1989's Roger & Me. After General Motors starts closing its plants in Flint in order to reap larger profits by conducting business elsewhere, Moore embarks on a relentless campaign to interview CEO Roger Smith, along the way meeting with former employees who have been severely impacted by the loss of employment. The film is a devastating examination of the perils of capitalism as corporate greed and unbridled avarice replace human decency and compassion. Whether the audience agrees with Moore's politics or not, there is no room to question his unbridled passion for justice and fairness. As with all of his documentaries, he sometimes takes unnecessary shots at the naïve and unsuspecting (was it really necessary to include the Miss Michigan interview?), but the film remains an impactful indictment of capitalism gone mad.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/12/23

Full Review

Mike J

Michael Moore is great keep it up

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/30/22

Full Review

kyle c

I'll admit that documentaries aren't usually my favorite types of movies, but I had heard really good things about this one (plus it's all about Flint, MI which is not far from where I grew up) so I gave it a shot. It's certainly an interesting and informative watch, although it occasionally lacks some direction and conciseness. The best parts of the film are when it focuses on individual stories and how they tie into the larger politics of the situation, rather than giving a plainly informational account. Also, there are a few pretty brutal and gruesome shots of people and animals being killed, which I found really disturbing while only occasionally adding value to the film. It's powerful stuff and it's gained a lot of relevance with the further deterioration and corruption of Flint and Michigan as a whole. Even though it doesn't quite come to a satisfying end, I still really enjoyed watching it.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

William L

"Lot of people say that there's nothing to do in Flint. HA! Ha, I say! HA! I mean, how many cities have their own PGA Tour event? Not that many. We have one, right here." (Said totally non-sarcastically by a Flint resident) Michael Moore is a tough filmmaker for me; he is consistently pushy and his films are ripe for experiences of secondhand embarassment as people are caught in uncomfortable situations, recognizing the role (however small) that they've played in some tragedy or injustice. But at the same time, he brings a dark comedy to sincere social issues, delivers top-notch editing for effect (sometimes to the detriment of the authenticity of his content), and his pressing demeanor is explicitly necessary to get the insight that he needs to make films on subjects that people would prefer not to speak about. More than 30 years down the line, not much has changed in the social or economic conflicts that America is experiencing, it's just the internet that has made things more visible and more polarized. You'll see plenty of old people playing golf or hanging out at garden parties talking about how the working class is lazy, justification from marketers on how losing your job is actually freedom at work, and a whole lot of average people trying to get by in an economic system that doesn't care about them. Moore taps into the sense of modern America beneath the blinking Christmas lights with candid interviews and bleakly hilarious tonal comparisons, touching on the wealth gap, the uncaring nature of capitalism, and the thin veil of PR that smoothes it over, all to produce the crappy GM cars of the '80s. As good as any of Moore's documentaries, particularly when it comes to the aggravatingly simplisitic way that people write off the suffering that they don't have to endure; I just wish that the director's other films didn't end up with him coming off as excessively self-reverential as he often does. I'm having a hard time thinking of something more tone-deaf than a bunch of upper-middle class people each paying $100 to dress up as prisoners, party, and spend a night in the brand new prison that their collapsing town has built because the old prison is overflowing with people convicted due to a loss of opportunities apart from crime. (3.5/5)

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/05/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Three words that made the film enjoyable: Bob Eubanks

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

stephen b

As much as Michael Moore gets on my nerves, but he can make a good movie. He can be a little pushy with some interviewees who didn't do anything themselves to deserve it, but he tells a pretty heart wrenching story.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Michael Moore

Director

Michael Moore

Self

James Blanchard

Self

James Bond

Self

Pat Boone

Self

Rhonda Britton

Self

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Noel Murray

The Dissolve

The film itself remains a hard kick in the head-a funny, angry inquiry into what the hell happened to the American dream.

Rated: 4/5

Oct 13, 2014

Full Review

Bruce C. Steele

OutWeek

[Michael Moore] made his point by making a terrifically enjoyable, provocative film. Beyond that, he couldn't care less what anyone else thinks.

May 20, 2020

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Rails against corporate greed and asks what happened to the American Dream and its promise of middle-class prosperity.

Rated: B+

Feb 20, 2017

Full Review

Jeff Beck

Examiner.com

Michael Moore's film is intelligent, funny, in-depth, and touching, all executed with a gripping hands-on approach to the material that helps engage the audience more than you're standard talking heads documentary.

Rated: 4/5

Oct 6, 2014

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Despite some tempering with the chronological sequence of events, this is a scathingly biting satire of Reagonomics that captures the zeitgeist of the late 1980s much more poignantly than most Hollywood movies.

Rated: A-

Oct 20, 2006

Full Review

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

Rated: 4/5

Sep 17, 2005

Full Review

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Synopsis

Ex-journalist Michael Moore demands answers when General Motors suddenly closes the doors of all its auto plants in the Flint, Michigan, the city where he grew up. With over 30,000 people out of work, Flint is economically devastated, and Moore aims to track down General Motors CEO Roger Smith to make him answer for his actions. While on the search, Moore also chronicles the emotional effect the closings have had on his family and friends, while violent crimes begin to skyrocket in Flint.

Director: Michael Moore
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Production Co: Warner Brothers, Dog Eat Dog Films
Rating: R
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 20, 1989, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2009
Box Office (Gross USA): $6.3M

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