Friday, August 17, 2007 - Page updated at 02:02 AM
E-mail article
Print view Share:
Digg
Newsvine
"King of Kong" is a top scorer
Seattle Times movie critic
Movie review
"The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters," a documentary by Seth Gordon. 79 minutes. Rated PG-13 for a brief sexual reference. Varsity.
Steve Wiebe will be present for Q&As after the 7 p.m. shows tonight and Saturday, and will introduce the 9:20 shows both nights.
Movie review
On paper, Seth Gordon's documentary "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" sounds like it might appeal only to hard-core gamers. It could well be titled "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Donkey Kong World Record" or "Men Who Game Too Much," and much of its action consists of watching youngish men (and one elderly woman) slumped in front of arcade games, working the buttons and knobs as if it's second nature. And yet, the movie's a kick: Gordon, a Seattle native, has a knack for shaping a story, taking the audience on a ride as manic and unexpected as that on any video-game console.
And he's been given a cast of characters that no screenwriter could devise. Steve Wiebe, a Redmond junior-high teacher and world-class Donkey Kong player, is the film's designated good guy; a soft-voiced family man whose wryly understanding wife and cute kids get plenty of screen time. Billy Mitchell, a hot-sauce mogul once proclaimed "Video Game Player of the Century," is cast as the villain; he's a dark-bearded fellow who's guarded in his comments and whose quotes make him seem a tad self-important. "No matter what I say, it draws controversy," he says. "Sort of like the abortion issue."
Surrounding them are a host of personalities from the gaming subculture: Walter Day, a gaming referee and would-be folk singer who's devoted much of his life to documentation of video-game records; Brian Kuh, a chatty young player obsessed with kill screens (the screen you get at the conclusion of a game, should you get that far); and a mysterious guy named Roy who calls himself Mr. Awesome and who gives helpful advice to Wiebe involving the word "chumpetizing." (Apparently, one should not chumpetize oneself, if one feels that one's Donkey Kong record is being disrespected. Got that?)
This is more color than you'll get in a Crayola box, and Gordon gleefully lets his tale unfold. Wiebe, who plays Donkey Kong in his Redmond Ridge garage, sets out to break the world record but finds some controversy from gaming headquarters, Day's Twin Galaxies organization, along the way. (One of the many arcane facts you learn from this film: There are people — well, guys — who, entirely voluntarily, watch scratchy homemade videotapes of other people playing video games for hours at a time, in order to judge the legitimacy of the performance. This would appear to be one tiny ladder-rung away from watching grass grow, but hey, to each his own.)
Wiebe travels to Funspot, a somewhat shopworn arcade-game Nirvana in New Hampshire, to compete in person, and things grow ever more complex from there. Are there conspirators and mysterious factions at work, controlling the Donkey Kong record books? Is Steve's record-breaking attempt corrupt? Is Billy's? Does anyone care? Surprisingly, you just might; and surely you'll cheer by the film's feel-good ending.
Mitchell, who has set a new Donkey Kong world record since the film's completion, is reportedly unhappy with "King of Kong," and certainly it's a documentary with a definite point of view: The good-guy/bad-guy matchup is made as clear as any old-time Western. But whatever may have gone on outside of camera range, Wiebe and Mitchell make appealing nemeses, staring each other down from opposite corners of a strangely fascinating subculture. "When you want your name written into history," says Mitchell in the film, "you have to pay the price."
Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company

shopping
events for Wednesday, Feb. 10
- Gift Shop Sale at Frame Up Studios
- Valentine's Specials at Sugar Sugar
- Winter Blowout Sale at Hip Zephyr
- Sultry Shopping and Chocolate Tasting Event a...
editors' picks
- Pioneer Square shopping
- Vintage, consignment and used clothing
- Neighborhood shopping
- Phinney Ridge & Greenwood shopping
UPDATE - 03:08 AM
For defense team, singer's fame may pose challenge
Valentine's Day is like a box of chocolates — who knows what you'll find on stage?
'The New Adventures of Old Christine' on CBS is a Wednesday TV pick
Angelina Jolie visits Haiti with UN refugee body
Updated at 8:18 AM
Winfrey dedicates show to her late dog
Sandler breaks ankle playing basketball
Simpson out of hospital, feeling better
Jury: Smith son died of drug overdose
O'Jays son dies after taken from jail
McCain, Letterman spar on 'late Show'
Ebert to resume writing movie reviews
- Alaska Air dropping Jones Soda beverages, going back to Coca-Cola
- Man found shot dead in pickup truck in Seattle
- Seattle is first U.S. stop for Picasso exhibit
- Husky Football Blog | Pac-10 expansion to get consideration over next year
- State Senate votes to clear way for tax increases
- Idol Confessions | "American Idol" hopeful from Seattle didn't make it to Hollywood afterall
- Belltown boulevard could be completed by early next year
- Nicole Brodeur | Chrisceda Clemmons' house wasn't the only casualty
- Brier Dudley's Blog | Google rolls its own Facebook & Twitter with Gmail "Buzz"
- Sex, drug rumors swirl about N.Y. Gov. Paterson
- Seattle is first U.S. stop for Picasso exhibit
- Belltown boulevard could be completed by early next year
- 747-8 soars smoothly on first outing
- Wine Adviser | Oregon's quality pinots join the bargain ranks
- Alaska Air dropping Jones Soda beverages, going back to Coca-Cola
- Snap out of your photo funk: How to make sense of all those piles of images
- How clean are those pre-washed salad greens?
- Answers to biggest Olympic TV questions
- Rick Steves' Europe | What's new in Rome and Venice for 2010
- Brier Dudley's Blog | Google rolls its own Facebook & Twitter with Gmail "Buzz"




