Review of The Queen of Versailles (2012) by Angela P — 12 Jan 2013

Karma: The Movie.

Critics have generally described this smartly detached documentary as an even mixture of compassion and schadenfreude (in a nutshell, a stupid Republican billionaire and his stupid trophy wife build the largest home in the US and are subsequently shafted by the financial crisis) but for me, it was very black and white. After 45 minutes or so of seething, venomous hatred, shouting at the screen, daggers-in-eyes, the slow, sadistic hammer of cathartic justice fell upon David and Jackie Siegel and I just thought, fuck these people. Fuck them. They're everything that's wrong with the world.

This is the guy who not only claimed to have single-handedly won the 2000 election for George W. Bush (only partially convincing - look it up - but still, KARMA) and also more recently threatened to fire all his employees if Obama got reelected (and hasn't yet). His ex-beauty queen wife appears to be from outer space. I feel SOME sympathy for their kids, who are probably screwed, but that's as close to 'compassion' as I got.

If you're of the opinion that welfare cases are the problem with society, if you've had a "crisis of attainment" or simply want to feel a renewed sense of calm appreciation for what you have, this is a must-watch.