#3 - The King Of Kong

Directed by Seth Gordon
2007 Documentary
Rated PG-13

*****

Depending on the audience it reaches, I believe that The King Of Kong could go down as not only one of the best documentaries of this decade, but as one of the greatest underdog stories ever told. The film is the story of two men; one is Billy Mitchell, an arcade video game legend, who at one time was the holder of five different world records, including the subject of this film, Donkey Kong. The other is Scott Wiebe, a married father of two from Washington. He has been the underdog his entire life; right when things would ever start going good for him, something would happen an he would be back at square one. Mitchell is the perfect villain; Wiebe is the perfect hero. As we follow along on Wiebe's quest to knock Mitchell off his throne, it's often hard to believe that this isn't Christopher Guest's latest mockumentary; the people are so off-the-wall that to find out you aren't watching a fiction film, its actually a bit surprising (probably the reason an adaptation for a dramatized version of the documentary is already in the works). So many of the things that happen seem almost made for the big screen.
I had no problems with this film, not even the sloppily put together coda at the end. If you are a fan of the underdog, and feel like cheering a few times at a movie, then make sure you check out The King Of Kong.