Love him or hate him, there's no denying that Michael Moore has forever changed the way documentaries are made as well as what the average moviegoer is looking for in them. In the past, such films were usually high-brow fare, solemn offerings with little to no personality of their own, and ones in which the documentary filmmakers were rarely, if ever seen.
Moore changed all of that with his various films. While they still covered serious subject matter, their entertainment value was ramped up, with the filmmaker wearing his heart -- and often political leanings -- on his cinematic sleeve, all while making himself an onscreen star by inserting himself whenever possible into the proceedings.
The result, of course, is that other such filmmakers have now followed in his footsteps, including Morgan Spurlock who took on the fast food industry, directly ingesting its offerings for 30 days and thus making himself the star, all in the name of enlightening entertainment in "Super Size Me."
He's now taken the same approach in "Where in the World is Osama bin Laden." No, this isn't a computer game or TV show about an ACME agent (although there is some computer game type footage and animation to be had, mostly notably in a riff of MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This"). Nor has the filmmaker gone the "Today Show" route and sent the infamous terrorist to various remote locations of the world where viewers are supposed to guess his whereabouts as he serves as an unofficial tourism guide of sorts.
Instead, the genesis of the film supposedly comes from another sort of genesis, the type of which occurs in a wife's belly. Having discovered he was a dad-to-be, and going into preemptive protective mode, Spurlock figured (or so he tells us on camera in one of many artificial and unnecessary moments) he should resolve the biggest threat to his unborn child -- the world leader in terrorist activities, Osama bin Laden.
Earning himself an automatic nomination for worst husband of the year (leaving his wife at home to deal with her pregnancy while he's off gallivanting around the world, often in very hostile environs that easily could have left dear wifey a widow and his future child fatherless), the filmmaker and his small film crew set off on their search and discovery mission.
But not before a bunch of entertainment shenanigans (the aforementioned animated bits, a brief sequence of anti-terrorism and survivalist training, etc.) add too much frivolity and artificiality to the proceedings. Once in country (or countries to be more precise), the film works best in showing how the everyday citizens live their lives as well as what they think about the current U.S. foreign policy.
Of course, Spurlock doesn't show us anything we don't already know (the common folk aren't much different from everyday Americans who they like, while despising their government), and ends up repeating this finding time and time again. That, rather than seriously trying to track down bin Laden is obviously the point of all of this. Yet, we grasp that fairly quickly, meaning the film quickly turns fairly redundant, with little to nothing new learned about this state of affairs.
Like Moore, Spurlock has an easygoing way about carrying himself when not in the obligatory entertainment mode, and he interacts well with others. Even so, he needs to establish more of his own documentary voice rather than coming off like a Moore imitator.
Far better in its smaller and more intimate moments than in all of the contrived high entertainment ones, the pic probably would have benefitted by going much deeper into what made and makes the titular subject tick, facts and revelations that perhaps might have led to figuring out exactly where he's holed up. Or at least pointed them in the right direction. As it stands, "Where in the World is Osama bin Laden" rates as a 4 out of 10.
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