Frankenheit 9/11
Power Line
Last week I received a preview DVD of "Al Franken: God Spoke" (trailer available here) on the condition that I post a review on our site between September 6 and September 13. The film is scheduled to open in theaters on September 13.
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I watched the film over the weekend and again last night. It's hard for me to believe how bad it is. Directed by Nick Doob and Chris Hegedus, the makers of "The War Room," their new film might more aptly have been titled "The Bore Room." Although Franken made his name as a comedy writer for Saturday Night Live, the film provides additional evidence to support my view that Franken hasn't been funny since the expiration of the Al Franken Decade in 1990.
I have been a fan of Franken for a long time. In June 2005 I was given a press pass to attend the Democratic fundraiser in Minneapolis where Franken was the featured speaker. The fundraiser was held on the west bank campus of the University of Minnesota within shouting distance of where I had first seen Franken perform with former partner Tom Davis. The film shows Franken performing the skit on Saturday Night Live with his parents in 1977 that I saw Franken try out in Minneapolis at the Dudley Riggs Workshop in the summer of 1976. (I wrote about Franken's June 2005 Minneapolis fundraiser speech in "Saturday night live with Al Franken." I collected links to many of the items we've posted here on Franken in "A former fan's notes." - link below)
What kind of a documentary is "God Spoke"? To a great extent it feels like a 90-minute campaign video, geared to promote Franken's long-intimated candidacy for the Senate seat currently held by Norm Coleman. In that respect, however, the film closes on an extremely sour note. Franken is at the wheel of his car driving from the airport in Minneapolis and musing on some advice given to him by Minneapolis attorney Tom Borman. In an early scene in the film, Franken is seen telling his favorite joke (from Buddy Hackett) before a Minneapolis audience. Borman tells Franken that his parents (wisely) thought Franken should stop telling that joke at political appearances. Franken is incredulous and unhappy.
Whereas "The War Room" portrayed the inside of a successful presidential campaign, "God Spoke" appears to be a study in failure, though no one seems to know it. The film opens with Franken promoting "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them" before an appreciative audience, but thereafter it's mostly downhill with Air America. "God Spoke" portrays Franken's involvement with the debut of the liberal radio network, Franken's coverage of the 2004 Democratic and Republican conventions in 2004, Franken's campaigning for John Kerry, Franken's disappointment on election day, Franken's announcement that he's thinking about running against Norm Coleman and Franken's related move from New York back to Minneaoplis.
At what appears to be an Air American planning session for a meeting with investors, Franken is asked what Air America is to be. "It's about answering the fuckheads," Franken says. On his first Air America show in March 2004, Michael Moore is Franken's in-studio guest; together Franken and Moore interview Al Gore by telephone. The film shows Franken exulting that his ratings for the first month of the show beat those of Rush Limbaugh in New York.
The network's financial difficulties are intimated by reference to a missed payroll, but the abject failure of the network's lineup to generate an audience remains a deep secret of the film. No reference is made to the ongoing Gloria Wise scandal investigation; for that you have to go to Radio Equalizer, whose most recent installment on the scandal is linked below). The film portrays Franken hinting darkly of network difficulties deriving from the "active intimidation" of advertisers and leaves it at that. "Less is more" seems to be the spirit with which Doob and Hegedus approach the story of Air America's difficulties and disappointments.
The film also has a kind of "Man from Hope" element to it, showing Franken returning to the house he grew up in for a look around and reminiscing about his father. It also shows him on one of his USO tours impersonating Saddam Hussein to entertain the troops in Iraq. It is an unfunny sequence that appears to have been edited to show the troops yukking it up in response to Franken's routine.
Doob and Hegedus nevertheless seem to work hard to portray Franken in a flattering light, but ninety minutes is too much. Franken comes across as a boor and a profoundly ugly person. Doob and Hegedus have blundered into the truth, though I can't for the life of me imagine why they think an audience would want to pay to see it.
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