Where in the World is Osama bin Laden? (2008)

Morgan Spurlock wins the Michael Moore Fan Club junior achiever award with Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?, his intentionally quixotic search for the world's most wanted terrorist and fugitive. Yet Spurlock tries to be even more the provocateur, risking the ire of unpredictable Middle Easterners, rather than just Moore's harmless bigwigs and fatcats. Problem is, the approach doesn't suit him as well as the radical social experiments he conducted in Super Size Me and his TV show 30 Days. First off, we're not learning much here that Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 and numerous straightforward documentaries haven't already taught us. But Spurlock ends up turning that value-neutral state into an actual negative, appearing unctuous and self-satisfied -- traits he never showed during his month-long McDonald's diet. It's impossible not to at least accuse him of having his priorities wrong. We learn at the start that Spurlock wants (winkingly) to make the world safer for his unborn child, and it's a central gimmick that he actually ventures to the Middle East during his wife's third trimester. Even though she appears only briefly at intervals, her disappointment trickles through -- as it would for anyone whose husband left to pursue greater fame and notoriety, rather than ushering her through the final weeks of pregnancy. For those who take Spurlock's choice in stride, there are a couple of good payoffs, such as an alarming scene where the director-star gets cuffed around by Orthodox Jews, of all people. But Where in the World is generally lacking in such incendiary moments, so Spurlock tries to fill the gap through intimate exchanges of understanding and intellect with ordinary Muslims. What comes across in theses scenes is not his sense of enlightenment, but his struggle to convince himself he's not just using them for his own personal ends. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide