There are shocking revelations in Capitalism: A Love Story. From judges who send hundreds of kids to jail just to make some extra cash to companies that profit from the deaths of their employees via “dead peasant” insurance policies, the film is more surprising than you might expect. But its first jolt is a strange one: Wallace Shawn, of all people, explains economic theory while shopping. Below, we sample Shawn’s notices — some of the worst of his career, and for a documentary. (David Edelstein, reviewing the movie over on his blog, the Projectionist, writes, “Perhaps Moore means to invoke Shawn’s bracing My Dinner With Andre, but that was a true drama, a dialogue of opposites. This is Shawn telling Moore what he wants to hear.”)
“Some of those [talking] heads are baffling (the actor and author Wallace Shawn, enlisted to explain free enterprise).” —Manohla Dargis [NYT]
“[A] downright baffling shopping trip with a bemused Wallace Shawn.” —Ella Taylor [VV]
“While it’s always great to see him, Wallace Shawn should not be the opening salvo on the dangers of free enterprise.” —Joe Neumaier [NYDN]
“[W]hy exactly does he wheel out Wallace Shawn to explain the capitalist system? Shawn, the co-star of My Dinner With Andre and many Woody Allen films, as well as a Disney channel series, is a playwright and the son of a former editor of The New Yorker — in other words, a member of the elite.” —Lou Lumenick [NYP]
“What the hell is Wallace Shawn doing here?” —David Fear [TONY]
