The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

Superficially this is about a nice guy going after the world record in Donkey Kong, but it weaves a tangled web of duplicity with Shakespearean precision. How lucky the documentarians were to find a hero (Steve Wiebe) with such heart and integrity, and an adversary (Billy Mitchell) so reprehensible, he seems less like a real person and more like the mustache-twisting villain from old-timey melodramas. This is the kind of doc that most people will skip because the “subject matter” (i.e. video games) does not appeal to them. But the subject matter is only the setting. The true drama, both basic and familiar, depicts the ingredients of most great dramas: good versus evil. Inspirational, not for the filmmaker’s great skill, but for finding a story so simple and profound buried in a subculture, but which is ethically microcosmic. That’s right, I said “inspirational.”
According to Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post, “One of the great pleasures of movies is that buzz you feel when you want to start grabbing people and saying ‘YOU GOTTA SEE THIS MOVIE.’” King of Kong is that kind of movie.