The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

A Western in which the weapons of choice are video arcade games might sound like a hard sell, but that's essentially what filmmaker Seth Gordon's compulsively watchable and enormously fun documentary The King of Kong offers—while also managing to say something a little profound about obsession and Machiavellian manipulation. The “Kong” of the title is Donkey Kong, a 1980s-era video game that would be considered an antique by today's younger Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 high-def platform junkies, but is still revered (as are other older arcade machines) by a small group of devotees, who compete under the watchful eye of referees from the Twin Galaxies organization, which promotes tournaments and keeps track of high scores. The protagonists here are Billy Mitchell, an arrogant longtime record holder, and challenger Steve Wiebe, a laidback science teacher, husband, and father who taped himself in his garage breaking Mitchell's record. The film follows Wiebe's crusade to win recognition as the new champ while Mitchell lobbies to retain his title. But what makes The King of Kong so enjoyable isn't just the white-hat/black-hat face-off, but the wonderfully weird milieu in which it's set (non-gamers may initially think this is a mockumentary, but it isn't). Funny, poignant, and even surprising, The King of Kong offers further proof that we are living in a golden age of documentaries. Highly recommended. [Note: DVD extras include two audio commentaries (one with director Seth Gordon, producer Ed Cunningham, and associate producers J. Clay Tweel and Luis Lopez; the other with Chris Carle, who is Entertainment Editorial Director of the IGN gaming resource website, and Jon M. Gibson, founder of the i am 8-bit art exhibition), bonus footage (52 min.), extended interviews (42 min.), the animated short “A Really, Really Brief History of Donkey Kong,” the i am 8-bit music and art gallery, an arcade glossary, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for an excellent doc.] (F. Swietek)