Movie Review: What's the Matter with Kansas? (2009)

Thomas Frank is the book writing equivalent of "documentary" filmmaker
Michael Moore. Both have become financially successful by pretending
to speak on behalf of ordinary decent working class Americans. Both
also engage in a great deal of falsification to the extent that their
works reflect reality only in a fun house mirror sort of way. This
being the case, it is most fitting that a documentary has just been
made based on Frank's book, "What's The Matter With Kansas?" It is
even more fitting that this documentary is every bit as dishonest as
the book that it was based on and that it was clearly made in
imitation of the willfully dishonest works of the "documentarian"
Michael Moore.

This particular exercise in cinematic dishonesty is the work of
Laura Cohen & Joseph Winston, two filmmakers whose previous works
were pretty bad. The film starts out like a nature documentary with all
sorts of beautiful photography. However, after a great deal of this
padding, the movie gets around to Thomas Frank's theme of Kansas being
a beautiful land that is inhabited by undeserving people who are both
stupid and ugly. Subtle is hardly what you would call this production's message.

Essentially, What's the Matter with Kansas? is an attack on conservatives. Like the book, its target is not so much conservative politicians but rather the folks who vote for them. As with the book, the message is that Kansans are basically just a bunch of rubes who are highly gullible and who are nothing but a bunch of ignorant rednecks to boot. The film puts forth the insulting idea that the people of Kansas need to follow the wishes of the liberal elite, pay their taxes and just shut up.

In the end, What's the Matter with Kansas? is just another pathetic excuse for a documentary. Although this flick has just been released to a
complete lack of fanfare, there have been serious allegations made by
interviewees that their statements were taken completely out of
context. Other parts of the movie been accused of being deceptive as well. What's the Matter with Kansas? is an attempt at making Republicans look stupid while making Democrats look smart
and sophisticated. That being the case, What's the Matter with Kansas? will likely backfire and make Kansans of all stripes angry and resentful at Hollywood outsiders who are trying to denigrate the state and its people for daring to think differently than what the Hollywood types
think that they should be. If you are a liberal Democrat, you should
hope and pray that this endeavor bombs out at the box office and that
as few Kansans as possible actually see this attack on their state and
culture.