Review of Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden? (2008) by K W — 05 Jun 2009

For the most part, this film is entertaining. Unfortunately, that is not the primary characteristic that documentaries are supposed to embody. Furthermore, the title is somewhat misleading--instead of being a concerted attempt to find Bin Laden, it ends up being more a simplistic (and tired) retread of the "hey look! They (Muslims), aren't so different from us after all!" formula.

True, Spurlock does give lip service to looking for the man who's likely dead by now, but he does it in such a nonsensical fashion, that it's little more than a joke. This film does provide a bit of insight into the average person in the Arabic world, so it's not entirely without value, just don't expect anything deep.

Also, I could have done without the side-story of his wife's pregnancy: it felt like its only purpose was to pad the screen time, and to desperately try to insert a banal, human element that wasn't needed, i.

E. "Won't SOMEONE think of the CHILDREN?!" Overall, it's worth a few laughs, and maybe a moment of reflection, but nothing more.