Rating: 
Summary: I agree, this movie is a hoot
Review: I agree with the person that said "this is a movie you want to own". It may be stupid, but it makes you laugh out loud. John Candy is the best!
Rating: 
Summary: Poor Satire of the U.S., Non-Satire of Canada
Review: I have noted that opinions of this movie tend to be more negative in Canada. Some Canadians who miss the point of this movie dislike it because they take offence. But they are in the minority. There is no way a film could fill up with so many Canadian actors if it were anti-Canadian, and Michael Moore has great admiration for Canada (where, unlike the U.S., you can easily find reviews of his books in national dailies and national news programs). In actual fact, the film more often tends to exaggerate how perfect Canada supposedly is. No, most Canadians know that the actual target of this film is the U.S. The real problem with the film is that it does a poor job of imitating a form of Canadian humour, and as a result, much of its satirical content is weak and underdeveloped.One source of much humour in Canada is the large degree of ignorance there is in the U.S. about Canadian culture. There's even a series of TV specials called "Speaking With Americans" in which U.S. citizens (including Congressmen!) are asked questions (and get serious answers!) about such pressing Canadian issues as the melting of the national igloo (which, in case you don't know, doesn't exist). Besides the proximity of the U.S., the reason why such humour is so pervasive is that it illustrates how one of the most powerful countries in the world is also dangerously self-centered. For example, U.S. politicians believe that they are right to impose U.S. values (not American values -- "America" refers to all of North and South America) on foreign countries, including its economic models, etc., while failing to recognize its imperfections or inapplicability to different cultures and countries. Many economies in Africa and South America have been ruined as a result of such impositions by the World Bank. U.S. politicians also seem to have the singular ability to fail to learn from models of other countries, creating programs which have failed elsewhere and avoiding programs which have worked elsewhere. The U.S. also fails to recognize the imporance of many international needs (e.g. the Kyoto Accord) out of pure self-interest. Lest you think I am being unfair, Canada itself is not perfect (our medical system, although far superior to the U.S.'s, has its major problems), and I would in fact hold some European countries to be better models than either the U.S. or Canada, but what some people ignorantly refer to as Canada's low self-esteem is in fact our greater recognition of ourselves as part of an international community, and our resultant ability to admit to our own imperfections while recognizing it in others as well. We make fun of the U.S. because in many ways the U.S. is frightening and dangerous. But while U.S. self-centeredness drives much of the action in this movie with its story of the U.S. government targeting Canada as a hostile country, its satire never reaches such a high level as the similar "Wag the Dog" or any of Moore's documentaries by getting lost in one of the symptoms. For example, its exaggeration of how great our energy system is, while also ignoring our own problems, does little to point out how privatization created the energy crisis in California or profited such pirates as Enron. These days the film can be seen as a prediction of Bush's careless increase of international tensions with promises of war against Iraq (yes, Saddam is a monster, but Bush's war has little to do with reality) and his careless increase of tensions with North Korea. However, with the film's focus upon U.S. misperceptions of Canada (a comparatively unimportant symptom of the U.S.'s disease), such serious issues as U.S. foreign policy are not given the focus they deserve as we instead, e.g., witness parodies of our language laws (what I find funniest about the graffiti scene is the RCMP officer's lack of concern over the anti-Canadian messages, thus denying the U.S. invaders the desired effect, and not his admonition that it also needs to also be in French). To be fair, the U.S. isn't completely self-blinded. Admittedly, while the U.S. has movies like "Wag the Dog", "Bob Robertson", etc., I have yet to see a great satirical movie about Canada or Canadian politics. "Canadian Bacon", which is only about perceptions of Canada fails to fill this bill. It is far too divorced from reality. Ultimately, this movie only has some minor chuckles and a couple of good laughs going for it, but it isn't great comedy or satire and accomplishes little of what it sets out to do.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully skewered.
Review: I borrowed my office mate's copy of "Canadian Bacon," prepared not to like it. I've previously succumbed to the rather arrogant opinions of critics who've knocked it before they've tried it (echoing the opinions of MMoore from below). But the late John Candy is an idol of mine, and I've learned over the years that he's- particularly at his most insane- an acquired taste. That's okay. Public gun-and-ammo auctions, pickets *against* the President, Niagra Falls suicide wagers, Canadian graffiti required in both languages- it's not for everyone. I have yet to return this DVD, but I really should just grab my own, so I can once again hear Kevin Pollak tell the overly zealous defense commander, " General, try and pretend you're not here!!"
Rating:
Summary: It's OKAY...
Review: ...but there's a reason why "political comedy" is a genre best utilized by stand-up comedians and political satirists rather than movie production teams.
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The cast of this movie is fantastic at every level...well-known comedic talents such as Steven Wright and Dan Aykroyd (sp?) settle happily into minor parts and do well to support John Candy (who, as a native Canadian, had to enjoy his role as the over-the-top, trigger-happy U.S. border town's Sheriff's Deputy), and the United States politicians are just as exceedingly incompetent as Michael Moore and the rest of the so-called "liberal media" tried to convince us that George H. W. Bush was. You will certainly be entertained by the efforts of the actors.
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But this movie does tend to fall under its own weight; the characterizations of both Americans and Canadians is simply too broad to be anything less than material that Mad Magazine might have once rejected...you simply don't FEEL that an effort was made to make any of this believable (although the propaganda piece "CANADIANS: THEY WALK AMONG US" was very entertaining and Kevin Pollack (borrowed) every scene he was in). Overall I enjoyed the movie enough, but most of the reviews I write are based on the notion of whether a DVD is worth owning rather than simply viewing. This one I'm not sure about owning, although at the offered price it's almost disposable. If you prefer politcial satire removed from the stage, you'll enjoy renting this movie. But...actually buying it may be a stretch. A better satire of Canadian life can be found in "Strange Brew", eh?!
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Rating: 
Summary: Canadian Bacon
Review: If you need a good laugh, you have chosen the right movie. It is a hilarious fantasy making you wonder what trouble the characters will get into next. You will enjoy every minute of this movie.
Rating:
Summary: MUST SEE MOVIE!
Review: This movie is downright hilarious. See John Candy in one of his last roles. You will laugh from begining to end. Great political humor. Very funny.
Rating:
Summary: i saw it in amsterdam
Review: i saw this movie when i was in a coffe shop in Amsterdam this summer... it was soo funny, i was laughin at all the canadian jokes and all the other tourists (from england and whatnot) and locals didnt get the jokes.
i just learned that michael moore was the producer and thats great too.
Rating:
Summary: I love Candy! (Well, doesn't everyone?)
Review: If you're lookin for a funny feel-good movie, well, look no further. CANADIAN BEACON is one of John Candy's BEST! A real classic! Be sure to check out some of Candy's other great movies, too: UNCLE BUCK, THE GREAT OUTDOORS, COOL RUNNINGS, AND SUMMER RENTAL.
Rating:
Summary: A mistake????? Well then I hope he makes moore mistakes!
Review: I love this movie! No matter how many times I see it, it always brings a smile to my face. A farce is supposed to be an extreme exaggeration of the truth. So, it is a curiosity that so many critics pound this movie for its absurdities. You can not go wrong with this movie. There is a phenomenal ensemble cast (John Candy is GREAT) and an overall funny movie. Don't listen to critics (or this review) see Canadian Bacon and make your own decision.
Rating: 
Summary: Unfunny and condescending
Review: A lackluster president (Alan Alda) with polls to match needs a boost to his popularity. With the Gulf war now history and the cold war showing no chance of restarting, the attentions of the nation are shifted towards all those boring things like health care, the environment education and other aspects of the economy. With nowhere to turn, the President's desperate national security adviser (Kevin Pollack) turns to Canada, or more to the point, turns on Canada as the next enemy of the people. Using the media, the White House now warns Americans to fear their boring northern neighbor which, among other things, hold a strategic edge over America in Zamboni development. Unfortunately, the campaign works too well, and citizens of a New York town near the Canadian border, fearful that they are on the front line of the next cold war, mobilize for a preemptive strike. Led by the late-great John Candy and Rhea Perlman, these Americans stage their own foray for the red-white-and-blue, into the mysterious, sinister, but cleaner land to the north. I have to remind myself that this could have been a funny movie, but it's not even decent. Director Michael Moore directs as if with a sledgehammer (Levinson and Mamet did a much better job in "Wag the Dog") without a trace of subtlety, as if every shot were enough to drive viewers into hysterics. He gets some good bits but mostly because his players are game - mostly SCTV alum John Candy as the befuddled NY Trooper, but also from a crew of CIA bureaucrats whose only role is to dig up dirt on countries for our politicians to use, and have had years to amass a mountain of it on Canada ("we only think that there aren't so many of them!"). In the end even these efforts are undermined by partly Moore's conviction that he's the funniest director of all time, but mostly by how his purported social-mindedness actually covers outright condescension of anybody who watches this movie. But what really kills the movie is how Moore unintentionally mirrors his fictitious politicians: the military is to Hollywood what the Russians (or now the Iraquis) are to our country, a simple target requiring little effort (especially imagination) to amass hatred against. It's sad that John Candy had to lend his talents to numerous dogs, and this was only one of them.
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