The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Billy Mitchell cheated! He is not a true Donkey Kong player! That's why I hate this movie. I give The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters a 1/10.

In one, very important aspect, The King of Kong is a truly great documentary film; it manages to address a subject that would seem silly to most viewers at first - that of competitive (to the point of obsessive) classic-video gaming - and make them care about it. The film doesn't, like some other documentaries, look at the situation from afar while subtly mocking the subjects for their weird obsession; it steps into their world and makes the viewer, at least for the duration of the film, care as much as them about who holds the world record in Donkey Kong. That's an impressive feat and it places The King of Kong firmly in the same league as the finest master documentarist Errol Morris has to offer.The story told in The King of Kong is simplistic and manipulative, and what it all boils down to is the flawless underdog and the big, sleazy, corrupt fat-cats. It's a simple and timeless story that's been told many times before and as such it's satisfying to watch, but a lot of it is clearly down to manipulative editing that allows for 'good guys' and 'bad guys' to exist. That's the only real flaw I could find with the film, though; because while this trite and simple story takes place, we get some real insight into the world of competitive gaming and what makes these people tick, and that's enough to make for a truly fascinating document.

Utterly fascinating documentary focusing on efforts of a world class Donkey Kong player to get recognition for his accomplishment. Now, you always have to say in these things, what was the point of view of the film maker? I've learned that lesson enough from the contrived PBS & other evolution "documentaries". One of two things is going on here - the film maker got entranced with the idea of the film and took Steve Wiebe's side once he got into it, or the film maker did this film intending to make his antagonist, Billy Mitchell (once legendary video gamer and one strange dude) the villain. There's no way to tell. As it is, Wiebe sets the all-time live Donkey Kong score only to get upstaged by a tape with a higher score from Mitchell. Billy, supposedly an advocate of live competition, is quoted talking up live and head-to-head competition. All you need to know is the gaming world schedules a face-to-face showdown 10 miles from Billy and he fails to show, leaving Wiebe to take the Donkey Kong crown and the video gaming officials with egg on their face. It's hard to figure Mitchell's side on this, but the fact that you care about any of this means the movie works. From Google it appears that the Donkey Kong crown has since moved around, with Wiebe showing the expected class. Excellent job.

Here is a mildly diverting excursion into the insular world of competitive Donkey Kong.Billy Mitchell holds a title won back in the Eighties and is so insecure about giving it up that he refuses to accept Steve Wiebe's challenges to compete in such public venues as Funspot in New Hampshire.The subject of this documentary is the central characters -- the rather icy, big-haired Mitchell; nice-guy, puppy dog Wiebe, and the somewhat tedious, self-styled umpire of this domain, Walter Day.There are a bunch of other personalities populating this realm, all talking about the stakes involved. Except for a lovely female octogenarian interested in another arcade game, I couldn't keep any of these characters straight. They're all given way too much screen time.There's an element of sadness in all of this. Wiebe seems more fortunate than Mitchell in that he has a young family (Mitchell's family consists of a buxom wife). As young as his children are, though, they both seem to question his fixation on what seems like a very monotonous game. Wiebe's uncomplaining wife seems to draw only passing attention from her spouse.I found out about this movie in "50 Documentaries to See Before You Die," but I don't quite get why it was so honored. I AM happy to have found out about Funspot, though; I think my two boys would love a visit to this iconic arcade.