Let's have a little fun- let's try to review Sicko and leave Michael Moore out of it. Sure, cutting him out of the review would leave a gaping, man-sized hole, but why not?

Sicko will make anyone who hasn't gotten sick feel very, very lucky. The movie follows several people who actually had insurance, but their insurance providers tried to weasel out of paying for their care. Several individuals suffer from cancer, and their insurance providers won't cover care that might save them because they classify it as "experimental."

The situations of these people might seem like isolated cases. Or maybe they didn't read the fine print. But people who worked for insurance companies in the past volunteered to go on film for the documentary - and they describe the for-profit insurance enterprise as a truly shady business. One woman who worked for Humana says before Congress, "I know how managed care maims and kills patients."

Some stories presented in Sicko are truly absurd. They would be funny if they weren't true. In theory, you couldn't make up a story about an insurance company that says it will cover only one cochlear implant for a little girl who is going deaf - and who happens to be insured. You couldn't make up a story about an insurance company that dropped a woman from their plan because she had one measly yeast infection. But it's all true.

The worst situation presented in Sicko involves the plight of 9/11 rescue workers who tried to rescue victims from the rubble. They suffered terrible respiratory ailments from being around Ground Zero, but the guv'mint wouldn't pay for their care because they were volunteers. Hence, they weren't on the guv'mint payroll.

More review after the jump!

To get medical care, the sick 9/11 rescue workers travel to Cuba thanks to the efforts of a certain unnamed filmmaker - and they are finally able to get the care that they need. This part of the movie rubs the wrong way somewhat because it smacks of a blatant publicity stunt - How can we be sure these people would have gotten such great care if a camera wasn't around? But it asks the audience one important question: "If these people could have gotten the care they needed, then would they have to resort to care from other countries?"

Sicko also compares the American medical system to those of Canada, England, and France. The movie presents these medical systems as a little too perfect - anyone who has dealt with socialized health care will tell you that it isn't as rosy as it appears in the movie. However, what Canada, England, and France have is far better than what the USA is offering.

As far as movies go, Sicko is ham-fisted, pounding the audience over the head and shouting, "Didja get it? Didja get it yet, huh?" It's one-sided. It offers very little in the way of counterargument. Sometimes, it's flat-out sloppy. It never offers a concrete plan how the United States can make a successful transition from a for-profit healthcare system to a socialized system. But, when you step back and look at what insured Americans have to go through to get any care, it's amazing that people haven't awakened and started agitating for the care that they deserve.