When James Scurlock first arrived as an undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, he was filled with optimism. "I was inspired by Donald Trump, which I think a lot kids were back when I went to college," he said.
"Maxed Out," a film about the consumer debt crisis, might as well be ripped from the headlines, in light of last week's stock market plunge (blamed in part on too many mortgages sold to high-risk home buyers). But here's the man-bites-dog part: This factoid-filled, talking-heads documentary -- by a business school graduate -- turns out to be amusing. And enlightening. And positively riveting.
Consumer debt might seem, at first glance, a fairly unsexy topic for a documentary, but James D. Scurlock's "Maxed Out" presents a far-reaching overview of the topic that will leave audiences intrigued and possibly outraged. Though the movie sometimes feels a bit cursory in telling its many stories (fleshed out in Scurlock's book of the same title, now in bookstores), many of its points resonate strongly, in that hey-how-come-I-didn't-know-that way that the best muckraking journalism can do.
"Maxed Out" is one of those movies with a lot on its mind and some entertaining means at its disposal to express it. James Scurlock's "J'accuse" against the financial industry's manipulation of Americans towards credit-card debt is delivered very much in the blunt-edged, playful style of guerrilla documentaries.
There are films we attend purely for entertainment, and others we might take in for purposes of moral enrichment; there are even people who enjoy being educated by attending the occasional documentary on a subject that is near and dear to them, or one that is totally outside their realm of experience. And then there are films that simply make us mad. Maxed Out is one of that last variety.
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"Maxed Out," a film about the consumer debt crisis, might as well be ripped from the headlines, in light of last week's stock market plunge (blamed in part on too many mortgages sold to high-risk home buyers). But here's the man-bites-dog part: This factoid-filled, talking-heads documentary -- by a business school graduate -- turns out to be amusing. And enlightening. And positively riveting.
There are films we attend purely for entertainment, and others we might take in for purposes of moral enrichment; there are even people who enjoy being educated by attending the occasional documentary on a subject that is near and dear to them, or one that is totally outside their realm of experience. And then there are films that simply make us mad. Maxed Out is one of that last variety. 