I believe Ebert’s quote sums it up nicely.
In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to.
On multiple levels, it is incredibly well done. Fundamentally, the movie is about an elaborate Powerpoint presentation. But it works. Davis Guggenheim does just enough tweaks and human interest, that it becomes a very captivating movie. And Al Gore pulls this off. Why oh why didn’t this come through during the 2000 election!?
Most of the slides presented aren’t new for those who already understand what a problem Global Warming and Climate Change is, but what is new is the efficiency in which it is presented and the links from one piece of information (picture, chart, thought) to the next. I was captivated for the entire two hours, figuratively hanging on every word.
Guggenheim intercuts segments of Gore’s personal story and history. There are only a few, and they do end up supporting the overall message nicely. Some of it might come off as cheesy, but when you think about it, Guggenheim needed something to put there, and Gore is a strong enough subject to make it work. The urgency comes across in this movie. You leave the movie wanting to do something, and more importantly, actually believing that you can make a difference (unlike a film like Syriana, where you leave feeling hopeless and helpless).
I don’t believe Al Gore is going to run again. He’s taking the smart approach… he’s trying to shape the discussion. For me, he succeeded. Paramount only released it in a few hundred small theaters for the opening weekend. It did very well. Hopefully the numbers will increase for this weekend. I would recommend this movie over anything else out in the theaters.