Editing Roger & Me (section)

==Critical reception==

The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. Film critic [[Emanuel Levy]] called the film "scathingly funny" and likened it to the works of [[Mark Twain]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Roger and Me: Michael Moore's Seminal Docu |url=https://emanuellevy.com/review/roger-and-me-2/ |access-date=2024-10-15 |website=emanuellevy.com}}</ref> [[Gene Siskel]] and [[Roger Ebert]] both put the film on their lists of The 10 Best Films of 1989.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Best of 1989 |url=https://siskelebert.org/?p=5232 |series=[[At the Movies (1986 TV program)#Siskel & Ebert & the Movies (1986–1999)|At the Movies]] |last1=Ebert |first1=Roger |last2=Siskel |first2=Gene |author-link2=Gene Siskel |date=December 30, 1989 |season=4 |number=16 |via=siskelebert.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Top Ten Lists - 1989 |url=https://www.innermind.com/misc/s_e_top.htm |website=innermind.com}}</ref>

In contrast, [[Pauline Kael]] felt the film exaggerated the social impact of GM's closing of the plant and depicted the actual events of Flint's troubles out of [[chronology|chronological order]]. Kael called the film "shallow and facetious, a piece of [[gonzo journalism|gonzo]] demagoguery that made me feel cheap for laughing". One such criticism is that the eviction at the end of the film occurred on a different day from Smith's speech, but the two events were intercut for emotional effect.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Kael|first=Pauline|title=Review of Roger & Me|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=1990-01-08}}</ref> Filmmaker [[Emile de Antonio]] was also claimed to be critical of the film.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2022/02/the-life-and-file-of-an-anarchist-filmmaker/  |title=The Life and File of an Anarchist Filmmaker (MR. HOOVER AND I) |last=Rosenbaum |first= Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Rosenbaum |date=May 18, 1990 |newspaper=[[Chicago Reader]] |via=jonathanrosenbaum.net}}</ref> Ebert defended the film from those who criticized it for exaggerations and inaccuracies, writing that in the film, Moore "was taking the liberties that satirists and ironists have taken with material for generations, and he was making his point with sarcasm and deft timing."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-12-19 |title=Attacks on 'Roger & Me' completely miss point of film {{!}} Roger Ebert {{!}} Roger Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/attacks-on-roger-and-me-completely-miss-point-of-film |access-date=2024-10-15 |website=www.rogerebert.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2007 during the promotion of Moore's documentary ''[[Sicko]],'' a documentary was released named ''[[Manufacturing Dissent|Manufacturing Dissent: Uncovering Michael Moore]]'', which featured a clip of a question-and-answer exchange between Moore and Smith at a 1987 GM shareholders' meeting it alleged had been filmed for but not included in ''Roger & Me''.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Flesher |first=John |date=2007-06-16 |title=Moore says he didn't interview Smith for ''Roger & Me'' |url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2007/06/16/moore_says_he_didn39t_interview_smith_for_34roger_38_me3939.html |access-date=2022-08-27 |website=The Toronto Star |language=en |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> Moore acknowledged the encounter (described by the ''[[Associated Press]]'' as "about a company tax abatement, as reported by [[Première (magazine)|''Premiere'' magazine]] in 1990") but claimed it pre-dated the start of his work on the film and had nothing to do with it, and argued that had he omitted footage of an interview with Smith GM would have used it to discredit the film.<ref name=":2" /> In a 2014 oral history compiled by [[Mlive|MLive]] to commemorate the film's 25th anniversary, the film's cinematographer Bruce Schermer recalled of the interview that Moore “Probably gave him 10 questions", “mainly what's the plan for Flint and how many jobs are going to be lost,” and that “Roger Smith couldn't give him the final answer and maybe he didn't want to. He gave pretty boring answers. He was as honest as he was going to be.”<ref name=":0" />

Critic Billy Stevenson described the film as Moore's "most astonishing", arguing it represents an effort to conflate film-making and labor, and that "it's this fusion of film-making and work that allows Moore to fully convey the desecration of Flint without ever transforming it into a sublime or melancholy poverty-spectacle, thereby distancing himself from the retouristing of the town-as-simulacrum that occupies the last and most intriguing part of the film".<ref>{{cite web|last=Stevenson|first=Billy|title=A Film Canon - Roger & Me|date=March 25, 2011|url=http://www.afilmcanon.com/journal/2011/3/25/moore-roger-me-1989.html|access-date=18 May 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110903101347/http://www.afilmcanon.com/journal/2011/3/25/moore-roger-me-1989.html|archive-date=September 3, 2011}}</ref> Eubanks later described Moore as not a documentarian but a "[[propagandist]]".<ref>{{Citation|title=Bob Eubanks on the controversy surrounding "Roger and Me" - TelevisionAcademy.com/Interviews|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4U89pVcPfM|language=en|access-date=April 7, 2020}}</ref>

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