I rented this movie from Netflix yesterday and it did not disappoint. I really don't watch movies that often -- I haven't been to a movie theater since May -- so why I chose to join Netflix I don't really know except to say that they have a far bigger selection than Hollywood Video or Blockbuster.
But back to the movie.
I tend to read a lot of non-fiction, so it makes sense that I would be drawn to documentaries. Add to that the fact that I've been playing video games all my life, and "King of Kong" is an obvious choice.
The basic story of the movie is that there's a long-standing high score in Donkey Kong -- in fact, there is a whole culture of people who play classic arcade games competitively -- and a guy from out of nowhere claims, with videotape evidence, that he has beaten it. Of course, the reigning champion (Billy Mitchell) disputes the score. The movie shows this guy's (Steve Weibe) quest to show that he is indeed the better Donkey Kong player.
I liken the movie to that of a good wrestling feud: the director does a wonderful job of portraying good vs. evil. Billy Mitchell is the heel; he's cocky, manipulative, and in true bad guy fashion, he refuses to play Steve head-to-head. Steve Weibe, on the other hand, is humble, dedicated, and totally willing to put his money where his mouth is.
You meet a lot of characters throughout the movie, and all of them are every bit as stereotypical as you'd imagine a competitive 80's video gamer to be. They all look like they live in their mother's basements, some have greasy hair, others have thick glasses. They were charming in an odd sort of way.
I'm not a movie reviewer and I don't want to spoil the story, so I'll just end by saying that it was hard not to -- and ultimately enjoyable -- cheer for Steve to beat the high score and knock Billy down a notch or two. It may sound dorky, and it is, but that's really the draw of the movie.
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