Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

rooprect A documentary about a crossword puzzle competition. Hm. You'd think it has all the potential of a hilarious Christopher Guest mockumentary ("Best in Show") but for real. And with the DVD cover boasting "NAIL BITING SUSPENSE!", "PALM-SWEATING SUSPENSE!" and "THRILLING!" I figured this documentary would have some nifty surprises.The only surprise was the fact that I made it all the way through it without switching to Gilligan's Island. Don't get me wrong; this is not a bad documentary. But it certainly didn't live up to the sensational promises advertised on the box.I've enjoyed many great documentaries about subjects that otherwise wouldn't interest me. That's the mark of a great documentary: something that can (a) make me care about something I previously didn't care about, or (b) entertain me by showing the bizarre characters who care about things that I don't care about.Examples of great documentaries would be (a) "Ambassadors of Hollywood", which made me care about the misfits who dress up in costumes on Hollywood Boulevard, (b) "King of Kong" which entertained me by showing the bizarre obsession of people who play the video game Donkey Kong, and (c) "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" which made me care about, as well as be tremendously entertained by, the aging goofballs in the metal band "Anvil" even though I don't listen to heavy metal.I was expecting another success with "Wordplay", a documentary about perhaps the most UNexciting pastime ever invented by the human race. But no, contrary to the DVD's promise, there was no "nail-biting", "palm-sweating" or "thrills" here. Instead what I found was a very low key, uneventful documentary that might be good to kill some time while you're sitting in a hotel room or a laundromat, but I can't recommend it as a worthy use of your time.For the first 45 minutes it shows us clips of various famous and not-so-famous people talking about crossword puzzles. They don't really say anything that you & I wouldn't say; I guess we're just supposed to be dazzled by the fact that these people are famous. Comedian Jon Stewart is an exception, being very animated and dramatic. But after a while you get the feeling that all his clips were scripted, like a carefully rehearsed joke routine. These scenes are contrasted against the candid shots of the individual players in the crossword competition. Nothing special, they're just everyday human beings, not weird, not ridiculous, controversial or interesting in the least. There was one gratuitous shot of a gay man playing pinball with his partner and then kissing him. I felt like the filmmakers added that shot for a cheap attention grabber in an otherwise mundane & uneventful show.After the 45 minute mark, the competition begins. How can I describe it... Like my title says, it's about as interesting as watching people solve crossword puzzles. I'm not joking when I say a bingo competition would be much more suspenseful. The crossword competition has the same sort of atmosphere as a bingo competition but without the excitement.While this is not a bad documentary, it's definitely not an exceptional one. If you have 90 minutes to spare, I highly recommend the 3 docs I mentioned above ("Ambassadors of Hollywood", "King of Kong" and "Anvil! The Story of Anvil") as well as the excellent A&E TV series "Rollergirls" about the private lives of Texas derby queens who, at the end of each show, put on the skates and pummel each other in the arena--if you really want to see "nail-biting suspense".

SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain Recently I've watched films about those obsessed with Scrabble, Chess, and Cinema. This was probably my favorite. First of all, all the people featured in this documentary seem to be able to function. They make friends, relationships, study, have jobs, etc. This makes them easier to relate to and makes their talents more impressive. Unlike Scrabble, where people just memorized words, and not their meaning, here the contestants need some intelligence. The documentary loses points as it focuses too much on just The New York Times crossword puzzle. Which is fair enough, and leads to us seeing the creation and editing of crosswords. However, it comes across as an advertisement sometimes. Luckily, there is a lot of interest here. You wouldn't believe how much work goes into a simple puzzle, and how clever they can be. I never knew a puzzle could be witty until I saw the election of Bob Dole/Clinton section. It all boils up to a fantastic tournament finish. What I loved about this was that I was routing for all three finalists, and it was an unpredictable, heart-breaking, but also uplifting ending. It contained a lot of emotions without the manipulation you find in sport biopics.

dalefried The commercial success of documentaries in recent years has led to a spate of money moving into various projects that would have never been seen in theaters five years ago. This rash has lead to many films that approach the method as novice polemicists that have little understanding of the documentary form. The presentations tend to feel more like textbooks than works of art ('Enron, the Smartest Guys in the Room', 'Outfoxed').The best documentaries are those with oblique presentations of a world you may know little about. The goal is often to leave you illuminated, the best leave you inspired. Quality documentaries work either from the inside out or the outside in. The first type presents some source whose story offers up a world or view of a world that we never had the privilege to see before. The second category presents glimpses of various views of a subject and alters these viewpoints as it moves toward illuminating the topic. 'The Fog of War' and 'A Brief History of Time' are marvelous examples of inside out presentations. 'Harlan County, USA' and 'Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control' are amazing outside in story lines.'Wordplay' is the best documentary I have seen since 'The Fog of War' and this came as a complete surprise. I expected a textbook presentation by a puzzle obsessor about those like him and their inspiration. I got a wondrous, understandable exploration of a world I knew little about from a guy whose major claim to fame to date was filming hot Maxim babes.The film is an outside in presentation of the crossword world using four views from the edge. There is the history of the form that centers on its development by the NY Times and the paper's first and current Crossword Editors. Then you have the constructors, the guys who weave these puzzles into shape, the philosophers of the art. You see a view from the fans, the best of which are Ken Burns, Bill Clinton, the Indigo Girls, Jon Stewart, and Mike Mussina. And there are the fanatics, the pastiche of intellectual weirdos who make a science out of it and participate annually in the World Championship.The film crisscrosses the edges of these oblique views toward a center of what could have been a pedestrian presentation of the 2005 championship. The director actually turns this into a meditation on the zing one gets from successfully doing puzzles while allowing you to take sides with one or more of the fanatics. I found myself utterly mesmerized by this, feeling exhilaration, disappointment, inspiration, appreciation, and most importantly, respect for this cast of zanies. The net effect of this experience was a huge smile that I felt on my face as the adventure wound down. The energy of this comes from the amazing use of juggling split screens that I won't even attempt to explain. Just see it.And I haven't tried to do a crossword puzzle in years.I certainly hope this guy has graduated to a new level of film-making and is given whatever he needs for future projects. I am so honored to have been introduced to him in this way rather than in a titillating Maxim video.Not that there is anything wrong with ….

dmturner As I watched this movie, I heard all around me little appreciative chuckles from the audience. I like but don't love crossword puzzles (my mother did the double crostics when I was a kid, which were beyond me) and can take them or leave them, but Will Shortz is a gem and the theme of competition is universal. Heck, I don't usually even like documentaries, but I felt as if this funny, courteous, kind, assortment of people was inviting me into a particularly enjoyable party in which nobody was a wallflower. The film-makers deserve credit for the humor and kindness of this film, as well as for the excellent craftsmanship (and their interesting assortment of celebrity interviewees)