If you don’t enjoy documentaries, you’re probably dumb. Opening this October (though available through OnDemand in September), Freakonomics teams up pretty much all your favorite documentary filmmakers for a non-fiction film adaptation of the best-selling, non-fiction book. This adaptation is a lot better than their original idea, which was to have Sandra Bullock teach a black kid economics. (“He can’t read, but I found something surprising: he scored in the 98th percentile in cost-analysis instincts.”)
“A Roshanda By Any Other Name” by Morgan Spurlock [Super Size Me] will look into the effects a name has on a child, particularly as it pertains to difference in names associated with black and white children. “Pure Corruption” by Alex Gibney [Gonzo, Taxi to the Dark Side] will use the world of sumo wrestlers to explore the incentive to cheat. “It’s Not Always A Wonderful Life” by Eugene Jarecki [Trials of Henry Kissinger] will investigate the link between abortion and dropping crime rates while “Can A Ninth Grader Be Bribed To Succeed” by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady [Jesus Camp] is pretty self explanatory. Seth Gordon [King of Kong] directed the introduction and transitional scenes. [ThePlaylist]
The trailer sort of explains the premise of the book and of a few of the segments, but doesn’t give too much of it away. My biggest disappointment was that the Freakonomics authors look so normal. I was hoping at least one dude would walk in with a huge mohawk and a sleeveless leather jacket with a bunch of piercings and a pentagram tattooed on his forehead, and people would start whispering, “Whoa, who’s that guy?” And their friends would be all like, “Him? He’s a freakonomicist.”
Rogue Economists have also been known to trample their keepers and gore pen mates
