The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)
LargeLab

Description

In this hilarious, critically acclaimed arcade showdown, a humble novice goes head-to-head against the reigning Donkey Kong champ in a confrontation that rocks the gaming world to its processors! For over 20 years, Billy Mitchell has owned the throne of the Donkey Kong world. No one could beat his top score until now. Newcomer Steve Wiebe claims to have beaten the unbeatable, but Mitchell isn't ready to relinquish his crown without a fight. Go behind the barrels as the two battle it out in a vicious war to earn the title of the true King of Kong.

Collected reviews and ratings

10 Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

The wired-up videogame addicts who populate The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, a funny and madly arresting new documentary, are all too aware of the game's awesome difficulty. Demanding a perfection of timing so relentless it's almost treacherous, Donkey Kong is a kind of virtual decathlon of hand-eye coordination.
Read full review (Cinema)

10 DVD Verdict | Erich Asperschlager

While Kong captures the joy of video games, what makes it a great film is that you don't have to love games to dig the movie. Gordon and his fellow filmmakers tell a classic Hollywood underdog story, set in the real world - well, real enough, anyway.
Read full review (DVD)

8.8 TV Guide | Maitland McDonagh

Like Air Guitar Nation (2006), the stranger-than-fiction cast of characters is fascinating, and their high-stakes machinations are nothing short of mind-boggling.
Read full review (Cinema)

8.0 New York Times | Matt Zoller Seitz

Even if you didn’t lose years of your life to that deviously entertaining Reagan-era arcade game, Mr. Gordon’s movie still succeeds as a portrait of a subculture.
Read full review (Cinema)

8.0 Salon.com | Andrew O'Hehir

Ultimately Gordon's movie becomes both a hilarious story about an unbelievable collection of arrested-teenage morons and, yes, an inspiring fable of persistence and redemption.
Read full review (Cinema)

8.0 Empire | James Dyer

Regardless of your feelings about video-games or documentaries in general, this is an engrossing story that plucks at the heartstrings just as hard as it pummels the fire buttons.
Read full review (Cinema)

7.5 Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

Who would have guessed that a documentary about gamers obsessed with scoring a world record at Donkey Kong would not only be roaringly funny but serve as a metaphor for the decline of Western civilization?
Read full review (Cinema)

7.0 PopMatters.com | Cynthia Fuchs

Whether you fall in love with Wiebe or sympathize with Mitchell’s reported denunciation of his depiction, the film’s arrangement of pieces makes for an engrossing saga of champion and challenger.
Read full review (Cinema)

4.0 Washington Post | Ann Hornaday

It's a depressing little kingdom, even when Gordon tries desperately to goose the drama with the requisite "Eye of the Tiger" riffs and some junior high-level palace intrigue.
Read full review (Cinema)