What: The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters (2007)Who: The story of two men, Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell, fighting to be the reigning Donkey King champion of the world
Why it's intriguing: I have no idea, it doesn't sound like it would be. Arcade games? Who cares? However, the story unfolds as a classic underdog story. Billy is the long-holding world record holder, is a pompous ass, with slickly styled eighties hair and a chain of restaurants and hot sauce, and Steve Weibe is the down-on-his-luck unemployed guy who tries to reach the record to give his life a purpose and defeat the goal. A fictional story could not have invented a better villain and an underdog.
There's also Walter Day, an arcade game enthusiast and founder of the company Twin Galaxies, the official organization for officially recording world record holders, who is the nicest nicest human alive. He created the company as a labor of love. He provides the narrative and structure for the story, and provides the viewer with the backstory. The story heats up when we learn that the Guiness Book of World Records will include the next person to get the highest score.
By the end I was at the edge of my seat seat. Billy refuses to play the game in person, preferring to provide a video only of his one million+ score, perhaps out of fear of losing and losing his reputation as a superstar. Will Billy show up at the world championships (held at a small arcade in Hollywood, Florida)? Will Steve beat him? I never thought I would care so much about who would win an arcade game.
Worth noting is the charming moment in which Steve Wiebe is recording his high score, and his young son is in the background yelling "Dad! Dad! I need you! I have to poop!". He couldn't redo it, so that's how his high score is recorded. The full movie is available on YouTube.
