Moore, a ramshackle man-mountain who fancies baseball caps and overflowing Hush Puppies, wanders through the film like a babe in toyland. The closest he gets to Smith is a slick, oily GM public relations man, who explains why the layoffs are regrettable but necessary. It follows a deputy sheriff on his rounds as he evicts unemployed auto workers. It listens to enthusiastic spokesmen for Auto World, an indoor amusement park where Flint citizens can visit a replica of their downtown as it used to look. The hotel and amusement park are supposed to create a tourism industry for Flint, but the biggest convention booked into the hotel is the state Scrabble tournament, and then Auto World goes out of business.
Many celebrities wander through the film, brought to Flint by big fees to cheer people up.
Anita Bryant sings, Pat Boone suggests that the unemployed workers might become Amway distributors and Ronald Reagan has pizza with the jobless but forgets to pick up the check. Meanwhile, some resourceful victims fight back. And the local socialites hold a charity ball in the jail the night before it opens for business. They have a lot of fun wearing riot helmets and banging each other over the head with police batons. Moore has struck a nerve with this movie.