Patrick Creadon's mostly engaging documentary about the makers and consumers of crossword puzzles—especially those published in the New York Times—focuses on Will Shortz, who's not only the editor of the NYT puzzle but the founder of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament held annually in Stamford, CT. Among those who praise Shortz's brainteasers here are Jon Stewart, Ken Burns, the Indigo Girls, Mike Mussina, and Bill Clinton. The real stars, however, are the serious contestants in the national competition: Ellen Ripstein, a mousy type who gained fame by winning a championship; Trip Payne, another former winner; Al Sanders, a family man who seems destined to always finish second; and Tyler Hinman, a precocious college student. All four are engaging personalities (there's an especially satisfying moment when several of them approach the judges about what they think is a scoring error, even though correcting it might hurt them), and when the final round finds three of the players competing on one last puzzle, it makes for as satisfying a close as any Hollywood scriptwriter might have concocted. A solid celebration of brains in contrast to our culture's usual tendency to lionize brawn, Wordplay is recommended. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary (by filmmaker Patrick Creadon, New York Times puzzle editor Will Shortz, and crossword constructor Merl Reagle), a 21-minute “Wordplay Goes to Sundance” featurette, a “Five Unforgettable Puzzles” featurette (15 min.), an interview gallery featuring seven brief interviews (13 min.), the short film “Waiting for the New York Times” by Patricia Erens (13 min.), eight minutes of deleted scenes, bonus segments featuring Shortz (7 min.) and additional footage from the Puzzle Tournament in Stamford, CT (6 min.), an “And the Winner Is” featurette with results from the Stamford 2006 competition (4 min.), the “Every Word” music video by Gary Louris, a photo gallery, a booklet featuring the “Five Unforgettable Puzzles,” and trailers. Bottom line: an excellent extras package for a fun documentary.] (F. Swietek)
Wordplay
IFC, 94 min., PG, DVD: $24.99, Nov. 7 Volume 21, Issue 6
Wordplay
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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