Canadian Bacon (1995)
4/10
Donald Trump’s trade war and threats to annex Canada made it seem like the perfect time to watch Canadian Bacon, Michael Moore’s post-Cold War satire in which a U.S. president stokes war with Canada to revive his flagging approval ratings. Unfortunately, despite a handful of funny moments, the film is weak and disjointed, with dull characters and a poor joke-to-laugh ratio. The late, great John Candy deserved a better send-off for his final film role.
Moore wrote, produced, and directed Canadian Bacon, the only non-documentary film he’s made to date. You have to wonder if its poor reception played a role. Though he was a major public figure during his heyday in George W. Bush administration, and Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11 were vital documentaries of the era, Moore has dropped off the radar a bit over the years. Like most U.S. liberals, Moore, a loyal Democrat, sacrificed his credibility by endorsing the likes of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden, who continued or worsened the same policies he criticized under Bush. Canadian Bacon reflects Moore’s strengths and weaknesses: moments of great incisiveness and wit, mixed with painful attempts at humour that don’t land, and ending on a note of liberal complacency.
As the film starts, thousands of workers on the U.S. side of the border in Niagara Falls have been laid off after tycoon R.J. Hacker (G.D. Spradlin), owner of Hacker Dynamics, has closed down his local weapons manufacturing plant. With the Cold War over, it seems, there’s no demand for all the military hardware they produce. The president of the United States (Alan Alda) visits the plant and comes under fire for his supposed belief that the well-being of children is more important than war.
Struggling with his re-election bid, the president confides to aides that he’s frustrated with not having an enemy to rally support behind him. He attempts to revive the Cold War but is rebuffed by the Russian president. Meanwhile, at a hockey game in Canada, Niagara Falls sheriff Bud Boomer (John Candy) sparks a riot after complaining about the quality of Canadian beer, which leads to his arrest. Watching on TV, National Security Advisor Stuart Smiley (Kevin Pollak) hatches the idea of building up Canada as the new enemy of the United States.
The plot has plenty of satirical potential. Moore was reportedly inspired by George H.W. Bush’s boost in popularity during the Gulf War. His point that the military-industrial complex is so important to the U.S. economy that the system needs an enemy is sound, as is the role of the media in manufacturing consent by whipping up hatred against the enemy du jour. But most of the film falls flat. The characters are unengaging and forgettable. Joke after joke lands with a resounding thud. In one scene, characters note how Black characters tend to die first in movies, which surely must have been a tired, trite observation even in 1995.
Funnier bits involve the media propaganda campaign against Canada. “The Canadians,” a news anchor ominous intones. “They walk among us. William Shatner. Michael J. Fox. Monty Hall. Mike Myers. Alex Trebek. All of them Canadians. All of them here.” He warns, “Like maple syrup, Canada's evil oozes over the United States.” As always happens, many fall for the propaganda, leading to the amusing sign of Americans burning Bryan Adams records.
Canada-related jokes are a mixed bag. Moore describes Canada building the CN Tower, referred to throughout as the “Canadian National Tower”, as the result of the nation’s “serious inferiority complex.” True, Canadian national identity, such as it is, is defined in large part by a desire for attention and ways that Canada is not like the United States. Dan Aykroyd has a funny cameo as a highway patrol officer who pulls over Boomer and demands he add French translations of anti-Canada graffiti on his truck to comply with bilingualism laws.
Smiley rips Canada for its lack of a national culture, noting, “When have you ever heard anyone say, ‘Honey, let’s stay in and order Canadian food’?” Indeed, it’s easier to think of cuisine associated with specific provinces than Canada as a whole. Quebec has poutine and Montreal-style smoked meat. Newfoundland has the Jiggs dinner and fish and brewis. But the term “Canadian food” at best brings to mind Kraft Dinner, maple syrup, and ketchup chips.
Some dialogue feels prescient amid Trump’s second term. A U.S. government official describes Canada as “practically the 51st state” in Trumpian style. Most of the way the film depicts Canada, though, is with tired and false stereotypes, such as the supposed politeness of Canadians. I once heard someone describe Canadians as “polite, but not friendly,” which seems like an accurate reflection for the coldness of relations in a city like Toronto. I did laugh when Boomer pushes his way through a crowd at the CN Tower and everyone apologizes to him. The idea that Canadians pronounce “about” as “a-boot”, however, continues to baffle me. Never in my life have I heard someone in Canada pronounce the word as “a-boot”.
Admittedly, the use of Canadian stereotypes sometimes works in its comedic effect, as when a Niagara Falls Mountie (Steven Wright)—dressed in the Red Serge ceremonial dress uniform, of course—details the crimes of the three people locked up in his jail, such as putting regular gas in an unleaded tank. But the film mostly abandons the idea of a U.S. war on Canada in its final act as the main focus becomes a software program that threatens to unleash the full nuclear arsenal of the United States against Russia. Most of what happens here is stupid, illogical, and/or unfunny.
The end features an epilogue updating us on what happened to each of the characters, as if we care. Canadian Bacon has its moments, but it’s telling that Moore stuck to documentaries after this film.