King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

In retrospect, very little happens in KING OF KONG, and what does happen, I am inherently uninterested in. Such a realization only serves to elevate my admiration of the film, directed craftily by Seth Gordon. We learn, from his film, that there are a number of high scoring classic arcade video game players in the world. It is easy to get a decent score on Pac-Man, C*Bert, Donkey Kong, and Galaga, we learn, but to get a high score (a ridiculously high score attained from hours of gameplay), subtle knowledge of pattern, and extremely brisk hand-eye coordination is necessary. Gordon exhibits a cast of characters: a nerdy (well, everyone here is nerdy) referee who keeps tabs on all the high scores and submits them to Guinness World Records, Billy Mitchell (the purported best video game player of all time who dons a sleek, 80's haircut, douchebag attitude, and Darth Vader presence), and the lowly, recently fired Steve Wiebe. Mitchell, who has fame for many world records, is challenged by Wiebe, who incessantly plays Donkey Kong in his garage. One day, among screaming kids and major distractions, Wiebe achieves a World Record in Donkey Kong, surpassing Billy Mitchell's score by hundreds of thousands of points. The supposed guardians of the arcade games, however, deny the unknown Wiebe's claim (and a video of him achieving the score). Wiebe, distraught, fights Mitchell in a one-sided duel: Wiebe traveling hundreds of miles to set scores, Mitchell sending in old videotapes of himself achieving higher and higher scores. In a sense, KING OF KONG is a nerd underdog movie, and at that, it achieves more than many other documentaries by making us care about its subject, and showing us something we wouldn't have otherwise cared about.
King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters: ★★★1/2