Review: Everything’s Cool

Everything’s not cool.

Everything’s Cool
Photo: City Lights Pictures

Everything’s not cool. That’s the message of Daniel B. Gold and Judith Helfand’s ironically titled documentary, which hopes to further close the gap that separates what scientists know about global warming and what the general public does not. Gold and Helfand’s aesthetic largely subscribes to Michael Moore’s mode of filmmaking expression, with peppy graphics and subject-appropriate pop songs like “She Blinded Me With Science” used to reinforce points that really don’t need much reinforcement—at least not for anyone who’s beyond sold on the issue that our environment is fucked. Still, Everything’s Cool understands that a pretty face like Jake Gyllenhaal’s in The Day After Tomorrow is sometimes necessary to sell an important story, and the doc is notable for continuing where An Inconvenient Truth left off, delving into the political censorship that has kept global warming a non-issue in the United States for so long, and doing so through a uniquely character-driven method that shows how foot soldiers like Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Ross Gelbspan and Weather Channel climate expert Heidi Cullen continue to fight the good fight against ghouls whose hands are in the pockets of the country’s gas and oil companies.

Score: 
 Director: Daniel B. Gold, Judith Helfand  Distributor: City Lights Pictures  Running Time: 89 min  Rating: NR  Year: 2007  Buy: Video

Ed Gonzalez

Ed Gonzalez is the co-founder of Slant Magazine. A member of the New York Film Critics Circle, his writing has appeared in The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times, and other publications.

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