Capitalism: A Love Story is a documentary that shows the best and worst of Michael Moore.Officially, it's a film about the cause of the global financial crisis but Moore widens the focus and goes all the way back to his own childhood as well as other unrelated aspects.Guess if you throw enough mud at the wall some of it will stick. Which is one of the criticisms about Moore, and it's never more relevant than it is here.His is a scattergun approach to documentary-making, where he throws up huge wads of information and hopes that the viewer will make some sense of it.And some of it makes no sense at all. Like getting actor Wallace Shawn (the villain from The Princess Bride) to educate us about capitalism, because he studied it for a semester in college. What, Moore couldn't find an actual economist to do that?Or interviewing priests and asking them if they think capitalism is evil. So what if they do? They probably think homosexuality and women in the priesthood are evil too.I also have a problem with Moore's own stated belief that capitalism needs to be replaced by democracy. Uhh, Michael, the former is an economic system, the latter a political system. Didn't your friend actor Wallace Shawn tell you that?That the maker of a film about economics makes that sort of mistake doesn't exactly instil faith.But there are moments in Capitalism where he does instil faith. His overview of the financial crisis (which, oddly, doesn't occur until halfway through the film) is great. It's an intoxicating mix of facts and outrage that explains what happened better than any news report could. For a 15-minute period, he makes economics interesting - which is a very hard thing to do if you ask me.Equally fascinating are the tales of grass roots organisations encouraging squatting in foreclosed houses and the sacked employees who stage a sit-in at their workplace to force the company to pay their entitlements.Part of the reason these stories are fascinating is that because they don't involve Moore.He's not visible on-screen, contributes minimal voice-overs and we're hearing someone else's story rather than his own.Besides, Moore tells his own story elsewhere in Capitalism. We hear about his upbringing in Flint, Michigan, (he mentions the place by name so many times, you'd think the tourism bureau is paying him for it), how his dad worked for GM, how the plant closed down and how the town is now seriously rundown.If it sounds familiar, it's because he's done the same thing in virtually all of his documentaries. Hopefully now that, presumably every person on the face of the Earth has heard about his home town, he can stop talking about it.Which would be great because, as Capitalism: A Love Story clearly shows, its other people's stories rather than his own that are the most interesting things in his films.Director: Michael MooreRating: Three starsScreening at Greater Union Wollongong