slickstu

As a teenager beavering away on video games at the local arcade and at home on a Commodore 64, it was necessary to devise a slick moniker commensurate with ones consummate skill. A call sign left behind on the highscore table to inspire awe in those who came after and witnessed your formidable majesty; a kind of digital territorialism. My handle was "SlickStu". It's a handle I've continued to use well into my adult years for the simple reason that it is a wholly inaccurate description of myself. This bygone grand delusion of a teenager big-noting himself has become my own private joke and I've come to like it.

Enter the world of Billy Mitchell, the best classic video gamer in the known universe (he has an award to prove it), and a world where big-noting does not end with the disappearance of acne and the onset of facial hair. Billy is the holder of the highest score in the 80's video game hit, Donkey Kong, it's a record he's held since 1982 and he's been trading off it ever since. With his big-titty trophy wife on his arm and surrounded by his acolytes who practically throw rose petals before him, Billy wallows in his self-importance safe in the knowledge that his intimidating score will never be beaten. "I ought to try losing sometime", he quips.

Steve Weibe is an average Joe with a wholesome family and aspirations of becoming a school teacher. When he loses his job, he stumbles across Billy Mitchell's highscore on the internet and determines to beat it. So he sets up a Donkey Kong machine in his garage and gets to work. What follows is an epic struggle of one small man vying for legitimacy within a revered bureaucracy, he is the allegorical equivalent of a Sunday school teacher trying to dethrone the Pope.

The King Of Kong is not a great documentary in a technical sense. There's no tricky editorial flourishes, no dramatic camera angles or lighting effects, it's just a point and shoot account of its subject matter. But when the subject is this interesting, it has all it needs. Like the Metallica documentary, Some Kind Of Monster, director Seth Gordon (who photographed the excellent Dixie Chicks Doco, Shut Up And Sing) just happens to find himself at the right place, at the right time. Who could have known that this story would have revealed such drama within such an insignificant social sect? Indeed, it is the very fact that these uber geeks take themselves and their trivial achievements so seriously which makes this film so funny and compelling.

9 out of 10

cabbaguy

Watched this last night, and really enjoyed it. I had to wonder if Billy Mitchell is really such a prat in real life, cause he really had me hating him.

slickstu

Here's an interesting interview with Billy Mitchell regarding his version of the events portrayed in The King Of Kong. He has an amazing knowledge of the film for someone who claims he's never seen it! Anyway the interview also contains composited responses from director Seth Green and producer Ed Cunningham.

The King Of Kong, continued: Donkey Kong champ Billy Mitchell calls The A.V. Club out of the blue | The A.V. Club

My opinion is unchanged.

Also, here's the KoK forum which makes an interesting read as Bob Mruczek is a heavy contributer:
Picturehouse Forum :: View Forum - The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

jobbidiar

finally got around to watching this last night, wow! Billy (mullet head) is a absolute tool. I realise that in docs and tv shows like aca,etc usually film stuff from one point of view but he really didn't do himself any favours that way he carried himself.

If i had of come across Billy (No the mullet with beard look went out in the 1970's dude) i would of thrown a flaming barrel on his head myself

8/10