I’m a sucker for a good documentary, so much so that I usually prefer them to the made-up magic of movies. Life really is stranger than fiction in many cases, and I just love watching it in all its glorious weirdness. And the weirdness that is “The King of Kong” about tops it all…
I first watched it about two years ago on the recommendation of a friend who assured me that you don’t need to be into video games to be entertained by this movie (it’s about the quest of two guys to set the world record for the high score of the 80s classic game Donkey Kong). I watched it again last night and was entertained all over again.
The film is edited perfectly, the music is so on point it had me laughing out loud, and the narrative created by the traditional set-up of good guy versus bad guy is remarkably compelling. Billy Mitchell is a villainous character that could not be written any better. I mean, really, you seethe at this guy in the movie. You can’t believe he’s real and truly lacks any kind of meaningful self-awareness. And his little minions? God, so funny! Especially that one kid, Brian Kuh, who should just go on and invest in knee pads (assuming he hasn’t already, of course).
Our hero in this movie is the everyman, the nice guy who always “finishes last,” the devoted husband and father and school teacher. You root for him, you want him to succeed, you want more than anything for him to beat that bastard Billy Mitchell and take the world record from him. (I won’t give away the ending here in case you haven’t seen it.)
The whole thing is so pathetically wonderful. It comes off as being inches away from mockumentary – I mean, you half expect Christopher Guest to come bursting forth from the sidelines at any second. But it’s all real! You’d think these guys were saving the world, instead of competing to hold the high score on an arcade game. It’s a culture and underground scene that the movie exposes, and perhaps exploits, that I knew nothing about going in. God, it is hilarious, but I’m pretty sure it’s the unintentional kind of funny, at least for the subjects.
It’s worth a watch, and perhaps more than one, that’s for sure. If you need a good laugh, and perhaps need validation that all the weird shit you’re into maybe isn’t actually so weird, check it out.
