Filmmaker Moore embarks on global quest in 'Where to Invade'

The arch premise behind Michael Moore's scattershot documentary "Where to Invade Next" puts the sartorially challenged filmmaker on a global quest to "invade" progressive nations and loot them of their better ways of dealing with social, political and economic issues such as humane prisons, women's equality, workers' benefits, school lunches and public education.

Seven years have passed since Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" attacked the American financial culture that led to the 2008 mortgage market collapse (better framed and illustrated by Adam McKay's brilliantly executed fact-based comedy "The Big Short").

Just when we think "Where to Invade Next" might be another anti-establishment rant, Moore pulls a fast one. Here, he marvels at how smaller nations seem to have solved or lessened problems still plaguing American society.

Moore invades France (pointing out it offered little resistance) to witness how schoolchildren eat balanced diets of restaurant-grade food daily. (French fries? Maybe twice a year, max.) Moore shows students photos of what American kids eat at school. They grimace.

"You know it's bad when the French pity you!" Moore says.

The best-educated students on the planet turn out to be in Finland, a culture that does not believe in homework, because kids need time for play, socializing with friends and being with their families. Yet, despite how counterintuitive this seems, many students learn to speak three or more languages.

When Iceland's finance system collapsed in 2008, a single solvent bank remained standing. The difference? Women were in charge. (One of them described why male-operated banks failed, but I can't print it in a family-friendly newspaper.)

Moore also points out that Iceland didn't use taxpayer money to bail out the banks, whose executives and hedge fund managers, 70 of them, went to prison. Can women leaders do better than men? That's the natural conclusion.

Of course, Moore has cherry-picked these examples to illustrate his pro-women stance and his long-standing criticism of America for defaulting on its potential for bettering the lives of its citizens.

Here, his conversation begins to sound like carping, and he risks alienating even his converts by constantly chiding America for failing to stack up against the successes of Tunisia, Norway, Germany, Slovenia and other places.

Then, Moore pulls another fast one, altering the narrative of "Where to Invade Next" by underscoring a convenient truth: that these successes began in America. We inspired these better ideas implemented by other nations.

Moore's doc, an unruly, yet energized work of nudging urgency, simply asks: What happened to us?