Michael Moore has been interested in the American healthcare system as a topic for a film since the late 1990s, when a segment he shot for his TV show The Awful Truth provided the seed for Sicko. He was sidetracked for a few years by other issues: the 2000 election, Columbine, the Iraq war.

Is Buddy really queer? This question arises about two thirds of the way through Evening, adapted from Susan Minot’s 1998 novel of the same title. Since the movie’s central character, Ann Lord (played at older and younger ages by Vanessa Redgrave and Claire Danes), says early on, “Harris and I killed Buddy,” this possibility immediately becomes more intriguing. It temporarily sparks things up at a point when the movie is sorely in needs of a boost.