'Ready, Set, Bag!': Everything you ever wanted to know about grocery bagging

After watching Justine Jacob's cheerful and charming documentary "Ready, Set, Bag!," you may never look at a bag of groceries in quite the same way again. In the movie, we meet eight state champions in the fine art of grocery bagging. Brenda, Brian, James, Jacob, Jon, Kim, Roger and Ryan are grocery-store employees with a remarkable facility for stuffing a bag neatly, quickly and weight- proportionately: heavy stuff on the bottom, "flats" on the sides for stability, "squishies and crushables" on top.

Like "Spellbound," "Wordplay" or any number of big-contest documentaries, "Ready, Set, Bag!" lets us come to know these eight people and then watch them compete in the national bagging championships in Las Vegas. (For what it's worth, I correctly predicted the winner; you might, too.) And it lets us appreciate the dedication and good humor that these people bring to their work, from behind-the-scenes folk ("I think we'd better look at mayonnaise," says one consultant seriously, considering what groceries to choose for bagging) to the contestants and their families and friends. Whether or not we're good baggers (though I'll certainly be better after watching this), the film pleasantly reminds us that we're all united by a common need: As a smiling store employee says, "Everybody's gotta buy groceries."

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com