The documentary BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER* suffers from the same major faults as many documentaries. 1) The narrator/filmmaker plays dumb, and never sheds any light on his own opinion, making himself seem stupid. 2) The film doesn't show as many not attackable facts as it should. The film deals with the use of steroids within sports, and is narrated/made by a guy who fits into the profile of someone who would have/ should have been using them. We watch as he watches and we see his older brother and his younger brother become vigorous "gym-rats" whose aspirations are ridiculous. They both use steroids, and the middle child Chris Bell, our narrator, is at odds for what to do, and what his stance towards steroids is. We watch as he makes the case that, as children, we are told that a certain body-type is what is okay, and how that was mostly manifested in the 80's movie stars like Hulk Hogan, Sylvester Stalone, and Arnold Schwartzeneger. The film, from that point on, engages in two depressing fashions. The first being that it is naiive about cheating and shows us the revelation that everyone in sports uses drugs, the second that it thinks we are that naiive. It has many nice scenes dealing with a hypocrisy in how we treat drugs, and that makes the film worthwhile. Otherwise, its just the true-life stories of a bunch of sad sacks who never learned that their dreams were unattainable. A decent film.
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*: ★★★
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