'Where to Invade Next' may be Michael Moore's best film

Last night I was lucky enough to attend the New York City premiere of Michael Moore's latest documentary -- his first in six years -- Where to Invade Next, and I am still reeling from the experience.

It may go down as his best film ever. At the very least, it may be his most sprawling and ambitious.

After making a series of films that more or less centered on one subject -- our obsessive gun culture, the flaws of the American health care system, corporate greed and the wrongheadedness of the Bush's foreign policies -- Moore does something different with this film.

In Where to Invade Next, Moore satirically "invades" countries abroad to "steal" their best ideas -- from decriminalizing drug use to eliminating homework -- and bring them back to the United States.

At first I feared that the film would largely be a disheartening guilt trip, where our country's considerable flaws are compared unfavorably to Europe's. To a certain extent the film does do that and the effect can be demoralizing. But then Moore does an interesting thing, he pivots into more inspirational territory and reveals a more optimistic message than perhaps any of his previous films have.

The thing about Moore that many of his detractors overlook is that he is first and foremost a patriot. He loves this country so much -- and is so convinced in its inherent greatness -- that with each film he is pushing and prodding it to live up to its highest ideals. Where to Invade Next is no exception to that ethos, its overarching theme is that our democratic principles inspired the world but somehow we didn't follow our own lead.

Michael Moore outside of Trump Tower on Dec, 16.

The other facet of Moore's career that is never given its due, is the fact that he is a truly phenomenal director. His use of found footage and archival interviews is sublime, as is his comedic timing, which is employed to great effect in this movie.

Now, there will inevitably be those that poke holes in this project -- and at times it does feel like a love letter to all things European, but it's also a reminder of how inspirational American ideas and ingenuity once were, a reminder that all of us need to do better to broaden our horizons to get a sense of all that we're missing.

Looking at Moore's filmography, they almost all feel like masterpieces, so it's very difficult to rank any particular film over another. But here is my take on each of his major documentary films to date:

Roger & Me (1989) - Even people who hate Moore will find little to fault in the film that made him a star and clearly plays closest to his heart. It's as much about the systematic destruction of his hometown of Flint as it is about the heartless corporate leaders of GM, who embrace a profit-over-people philosophy that points to the future in ways that are both galling and infuriating.

Bowling for Columbine (2002) - This Moore film floored me. It both chronicles our nation's irrational attachment to guns and tells the chilling, emotional story of what happened to the victims of the mass shooting at Columbine High School. Moore's final confrontation with Charlton Heston has a chilling power, as does his face-off will Wal-Mart over their sale of bullets.

Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) - The film for which Moore will probably forever be best remembered -- and that's a good thing. Although it failed to derail George W. Bush's re-election bid, this stunning indictment of his foreign policies still holds up as both spot-on and prescient. It plays like a thriller at times except the stakes are all too real. The box office success of this film is still mind-blowing.

Sicko (2007) - Moore's plea for single payer health care was not entirely heeded -- although Obamacare does address some of the ills in the American system which this film underlines. This films feels almost a little ahead of its time considering how much the health care debate has come to define the last several years.

Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) - Perhaps Moore's bleakest film, it's as much a history lesson as it is a condemnation of corporate greed. Although he tries to provide some uplift at the end, this is the first Moore film where I felt not so much let down as disparaged at the end, since the forces he's fighting against seem more intransigent than ever.