(2004)
2.5
Fred Beldin
Essentially an infomercial for the best-selling book, the visually static Bush's Brain is earnest in its muckraking but not much of a documentary. The politically ambitious and ethically suspicious Karl Rove has his career turned inside out in a search for dirt that is possibly deeper and darker than his critics imagine. Unfortunately, directors Mealey and Shoob employ a series of talking heads and wire service photos that don't engage, resulting in a documentary that is refreshingly free of Michael Moore-style histrionics but also duller than the average television news broadcast. For the politically jaded viewer, the litany of personal smears, office buggings, and ruined careers will draw only a token shrug. So the most powerful politicians in America are corrupt? What else is new? It would take a headless corpse in a field to suggest anything truly beyond the pale is happening here, which is an indictment of our system as a whole rather than one individual dirty pooler. This leads to the real problem with Bush's Brain, which is its usefulness as a political tool in discussing one of America's most polarizing presidents. Those suspicious of the Bush presidency will be underwhelmed by charges they already take for granted; those who support the president and his regime will decide the end justifies the means; and those whose minds are not made up yet will simply be bored by Bush's Brain and its monotonous visual style.
Bush's Brain on AllMovie
Bush's Brain (2004)
