Despite focusing on Michael Moore a mere three days ago, I can’t help but ignore the buzz going on about the filmmaker’s marketing stunt over the weekend. Soon after we got our first look at an image from Moore’s new, untitled documentary about the financial crisis, a teaser trailer hit theaters and the web (as soon as it was online, I updated Friday’s post to include it). But in some theaters there was more to the ad than just an onscreen Jimmy Fund/Will Rogers Institute parody. In select cities the teaser was actually followed by Jimmy Fund-style pandhandling, in which ushers (or interns? volunteers?) wearing “Save Our CEOs” t-shirts walked down the aisles with donation cans.

Yes, people gave money, but apparently Moore is passing that cash and coin on to local food banks — though nobody in the select audiences seem to have been clued into this fact. If there were indeed moviegoers who simply dropped change in out of habit (thinking this was an actual charity or they confusedly thought they were at church for a moment), that wasn’t the only aspect of the marketing of this film that is going a little wrong. If Twitter is a good gauge of this sort of thing, too many people are coming away from watching the trailer and reading about the stunt believing that Moore’s new film is actually titled “Save Our CEOs” (or “Save the CEOs,” depending on the Tweet). I’m not sure if that is an appropriate thing to call the film, but now that it’s garnering buzz under that moniker, Overture Films might want to insist it be the official title anyway.

Check out what the film blogs are saying about the stunt after the jump:

• Jett Wells at MTV Movies Blog shares a firsthand account of the stunt. He claims the audience reacted as follows:
  

  People looked confused and irritated immediately. Older men in the back of the theatre groaned, and muttered “Start the movie, start the movie, start the movie!” Young teenagers in the front got a kick out of it, while the older crowd just growled.

  After a few seconds, several people in aisle seats actually got out of their seats and dropped change in the buckets. A guy in the front of theater even donated a few dollars. With their help, we can be sure that CEOs will soon flourish once again.

• Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere has his own firsthand take on the stunt:
  

  Believe it or not, I saw six or seven women actually reach into their wallets and give a buck to the volunteers. Don’t they understand they’re participating in their own humiliation by doing this? It’s a joke, for God’s sake.

• Actually he’s seen it done twice now. Here’s from the second time:
  

  …watching the kids walk around with donation cups (the girl behind me who saved her boyfriend’s seat reached into her wallet and gave a dollar to “Save Our CEOs” — brilliant) and listen to a guy yell out “start the movie!”

• The Playlist is upset that people played along:
  

  …Jesus H. Christ, people actually gave donated their dollars, which is just… wow, the level of stupidity is astounding… beyond comprehension (This wasn’t in middle America either, this was in New York for fuck’s sake). It actually makes us want to weep. If Moore gets wind of this shit, he’ll probably give up.

  Maybe all is lost.

• Jenna Busch at JoBlo.com is also annoyed with the donating, though she found out where the money is going:
  

  And even if you hate him, you would get that this is a joke, right? Um…people actually GAVE MONEY!!! I’m not kidding. I actually heard some guy say, “Honey, grab my wallet”. Sigh.

  The joke was repeated in four cities around the country. No word on how much dough they made.

  By the way, I asked. The take is going to a local food bank.

• Dean Rogers at Eclipse Magazine knows the specific DC-area food bank and speculates about future marketing:
  

  By the way, all money that was donated that evening is actually going to Capital Area Food Bank, a much worthwhile cause! I have a feeling that the next trailer will feature the audience’s reactions when it came to the stunt.

• Devin Faraci at CHUD.com likes the marketing gimmick:
  

  If you were in certain theaters this weekend you saw the above message - a parody of the Will Rogers Institute type of fundraising you sometimes see - play before your movie…And sure enough, people did go around collecting change for CEOs in theaters… Whatever you think of Moore, this was a clever and funny stunt.

• Josh Modell of the A.V. Club also appreciated the stunt, probably because, as noted by Cole Abaius at Film School Rejects, it’s reminiscent of stuff on the Onion News Network. From Modell’s post:
  

  In addition to a short message from Moore, a group of excited looking interns (in Chicago, anyway) went around the theater soliciting money to “Save Our CEOs.” Yeah, it sounds dumb, but it was actually pretty funny.

• Lane Brown at Vulture finds the teaser and stunt effective, but maybe not in the way Moore and Overture meant:
  

  Clever idea, we guess, but we hope interactive trailers never catch on (we’d much prefer a clear path to the concessions stand and bathrooms during those crucial pre-movie minutes). Anyway, if this captures the general tone of the film, then count us in — we love getting indignant over things!

• Kyle Buchanan at Movieline shares a video of one audience who suffered the stunt and addresses the clip’s “manufactured badness.” Two things he noticed:
  

  · The ADR’d in audience applause, which is clearly not coming from the actual footage of people sitting in the audience, stone-faced.

  · The faint, twice looped-in line of someone ordering, “Empty those pockets…or not,” which was probably recorded by an Overture intern.

• Capone at Aint it Cool News puts in a vote for the title everyone is already using:
  

  if Moore is still undecided about a title, I actually love SAVE OUR CEOs. Obviously, I have no idea what the exact thrust of his film will be, but the audacity of such a title would be right in step with the stories we’re hearing about millions of dollars in bailout money being used for executive bonuses or retreats.

• The Washington Times has a photo from one theater hosting the stunt in Georgetown. Here’s the caption:
  

  Volunteer “ushers,” including Stephanie Blind (far right) and Maryam Riazian (next to her), both of the District, came through the aisles of the Georgetown AMC Loews theater before the screening of “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3″ on Friday as part of a publicity stunt for a new Michael Moore film.

Here is the video Buchanan featured over at Movieline: