‘Inequality for All’ is the ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ of economics. It’s a boardroom slide presentation that sharply delineates a crisis. The seriousness is leavened with autobiography and geeky humor. The call to action at the end is guaranteed not to solve anything.

I don’t mean that as a complete dismissal of the film. The slides are great, and you’re definitely going to see some of them bubble up into the coming election cycle. If you are looking for arguments against continuing to toss virgins into the volcano in the hopes that the rich will send the rain, there are some bullet points that will definitely help you. Reich is avuncular and even kind of funny. I mean, economist funny. For an economist, he’s hilarious.

Sadly, the movie suffers from the same disease that Reich and Clinton shared, the affliction that neutered the effect of ‘Inconvenient Truth’. They all evince a profound, soul-deep desire to deliver a steak dinner for which no livestock have been inconvenienced. They mean well, but you can’t talk the steak off the cow. You will never convince the plutocrats that it’s in their interest to be a little less rich. The rich have been abundantly clear on this point.

Like ‘Truth’, this movie wants to leave you with hope. It wants to motivate you to call your senator’s office, maybe walk around with a petition. But just like the climate in ‘Truth’, the patient is probably too far gone to be reached by standard therapeutic measures. Absent the will to propose a solution with teeth, it’s just a really pretty PowerPoint by an adorable short guy who used to matter.

Inequality for All trailer