Sorry, this movie sucks

Best movie of this year hands down!

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The acting in this movie is really good.

"The Second Civil War" is a film that may touch the hearts of many people or it may make your blood boil, depending on which side of the fight you're on! I am talking about IMMIGRATION. In the film, the governor of Idaho does not want to grant amnesty to a group of immigrant refugees and it causes national tension thanks to the news channel covering the incident.Beau Bridges plays Jim Farley, the governor of Idaho who himself is in love with a woman who is an immigrant and of Spanish origin, but blocks the refugees from another nation from entering his state. Meanwhile, the President of the United States (played by Phil Hartman) threatens to send in troops if Farley does not allow the immigrants' entrance to Idaho.The whole fiasco of a civil war could have been avoided if it wasn't for the reporters covering the event. Hearing the wrong thing said, the reporters put pressure on the President to fire on the Idaho National Guard, conflict ensues. Denis Leary plays a reporter on the front lines in Idaho when the first shots are heard.This is not a comedy! This film is meant to be something we should all think about. Do we go so far to protect immigrants over citizens that it causes a civil war?

Loved it when it was first released, but now (2004) it seems amazing just how prophetic it was. The effects of overwhelming immigration into the U.S., and the hopeless ineptitude of the government, are themes that are more and more apparent as the years go by.Topical comedy usually has a short life, seen a few years later it often loses its comic impact, but this one hasn't lost a thing when seen today. It has the rare quality of being both comic and profoundly serious.Like most people, I only have a few that I can give a "10", but this is one of the few.

I think you need to be an American to fully understand the satire at play here. This is a spoof of American politics, government and the hypocrisy of the news media. While Wag the Dog gave us a numbing account of how the media can shape public opinion, the Second Civil War only shows how inept the government and media organizations are. Isn't it frightening if the movie a portent to how political life will shape out in the future? I didn't find the movie funny in any way, nor is that any real message for us to learn.

If Joe Dante was Inferno's king, I'd like to go there… seriously, this guy is a dangerous terrorist who can't help destroying from the inside every convention, every cliché in the book, like some offspring of Tom Robbins and Roger Corman meeting on Rabelais' grave.(See what he did with "Small Soldiers" : an anti-militarist toys movie made to sell militarist toys !) Here he destroys everything that propaganda movies like "Top Gun" has been doing for a while - and, like our Italian friend up there judiciously pointed out, this one is too close to the bone to be taken just as comedy - it might better be described as "satire". This one wasn't theatrically released in France, unlike in Italy, but played on a film festival called "Les inédits d'Amérique"