The King of Kong

This movie proves two things: 1), a documentary really can be about anything, and 2), movies aren't always what they're about, but how they are about, as Ebert puts it. This movie begins by retracing the early video game craze of the early 80's, and it focuses on the 20 year plus record-holder of the highest score ever for 'Donkey Kong'. His name is Billy Mitchell, and he's the Michael Jackson or the Wayne Gretzky of the video gaming world. We learn of other players who helped to define the era, one who no longer plays but gives much of his time away by refereeing video game competitions. Perhaps all that would've made for an interesting doc in it's own right, but in walks Steve Wiebe, a pretty normal guy with a wife and two kids, and we learn how he got into video gaming after a handful of setbacks in his life. As it becomes clear to us that Wiebe is an amazing player in his own right, politics enter the picture and we end up with a fascinating study about the nature of people that gets beyond simple competitiveness and digs a little deeper into the psyches of how we perceive our own selves. I'm so happy to have run into this title. You don't have to be interested or know anything about video games to really care about this movie.

I just got done seeing this film in Santa Monica and was so happy that it lived up to how great the trailer makes this film and the characters out to be. It was totally entertaining from start to finish and lives up to the obvious Rocky comparisons. And like Rocky this film deserves it time in the sun right now and hopefully a ticket to the Oscar dance next year.

And yes the film was carefully edited to make for some dramatic moments as all films are. It is after all entertainment. But nothing so much that it taints the great story this film tells. I can think of quite a few documentaries and films in the past few years that did the same thing. Fahrenheit 9/11, An Inconvient Truth, JFK and pretty much any story you see told on the news tonight. The truth is left on the editing room floor. AlphaPepper should probably change his login ID to Sour Grapes and remove his head from... well you know.

Billy Mitchell is no doubt a nice guy but is perfectly edited as the villain for this film. Steve Weibe is likewise edited to be the perfect underdog. All the other cast of characters in this film and some of their comments make this a film worth seeing. And without a doubt Steve Weibe's daughters "from the mouth of babes like" comment steals the whole show in the end.

In the end this is just a great story about two men Steve Weibe and Billy Mitchell fighting for title of King of Kong. I hope this film gets picked up for larger distribution so more people can enjoy it like I did.

The best movie I've seen this year! I laughed to the point of exhaustion. I'd recommend it to anyone with a heartbeat. Must see!The only thing I can't get over is that this Billy Mitchell guy is a real person. I mean you can't make up a character like this. And Steve Weibe... how humble can you get. I mean the guy is the poster child for humility. (Okay so here is where I admit that I actually know Steve personally. Thing is, he actually IS this humble. No lie. For his recent 20 year high school reunion he listed as his proudest accomplishment: "recieving my teacher's certificate", no mention of Donkey Kong. Now that's the kind of hero everyone should look up to. Especially anyone with a huge ego. And lord knows there are enough of those to go around. So don't walk, RUN to the movie theater and see this movie. You won't regret it. (Just make sure you use the bathroom before the movie starts, you won't want to miss a second!)

As entertainment, King of Kong is quite good, portraying a strange insular world of video game fanatics and a good vs. evil story of a scrappy newcomer fighting to win the record from its sleazy holder.

But as a documentary, it is quite possible that almost everything in it has been twisted in pretzels to fabricate a story.

After I saw the documentary I looked in up on wikipedia, where I saw some fairly shocking claims regarding what the movie altered and left out. I went to the Twin Galaxies website and read more.

Of course, since Twin Galaxies and Billy Mitchell (I found an interview with him in AV Club) are portrayed negatively in the movie there's a possibility that they aren't telling the truth, but since some of the most important claims would be common knowledge within the classic arcade gaming community, they would ruin their reputation by lying, and be instantly refuted, so I have to lean towards believing them.

This is quite frustrating. The movie is entertaining. And it is fascinating to see how seriously people take this tiny little world. But if what Twin Galaxies claims is true, then I was totally mislead on what was going on, and I basically can't trust a single thing in the movie.

Documentaries, in my opinion, should strive to tell the truth more than to tell a good story. King of Kong tells a good story, but its relationship to the truth is highly suspect.

Maybe the best documentary I have seen in years... A must-see for anyone who loves rooting for the underdog. King of Kong tells the story of two men competing for the highest all-time score in the arcade classic Donkey Kong. Seth Gordon skillfully explores this whole American subculture of die-hard classic video gamers. The fact that this is all real (as opposed to a Christopher Guest style mockumentary) makes it all the more hilarious, but above all this is a true story of inspiration that should appeal to anyone regardless of whether they know anything about video games. In a country dominated by politically-fused documentary/movie propaganda, we need more films like this to remind us of how wonderfully weird we can be. Michael Moore eat your heart out.