Review of The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007) by Joseph R — 02 Oct 2009

I rarely give five stars to any movie, but this is one of the few that actually merits it. Whether you think attaining a score of 1 million points on Donkey Kong is a laudable goal or simply stupid, you can't help bet get emotionally involved with the players.

The tone of the film is pretty interesting as well, as the documentarian has clearly chosen to cast Weibe in the role of hero and Mitchell in the role of villain. Some my find this to be unconscionable, but we're not talking about Rwanda here ... this is Donkey Kong. And to put it bluntly, Billy Mitchell fits the textbook definition of the word "asshole", while Steve Weibe is just an all-around nice guy.

Watching Steve butt heads with bureaucratic game "refs" and legions of Billy Mitchell fanboys is truly engaging stuff, and who doesn't love to root for the underdog?

If you like gaming, silliness, heart, or just plain fun cinema, you should definitely check this out. Just don't read up on the high score race, or you may be disappointed.