'Weiner' A Review

Weiner is a political documentary about the 2013 NYC mayoral campaign of Anthony Weiner. The film opens on, and subsequently periodically cuts to, a confessional-style interview with Weiner. He sets up his 2013 campaign which the film cuts to and spends the majority of its running time following. It utilizes archival footage and the Weiner interview to flush out the broader context but the majority of the film is fly-on-the-footage following Weiner around while he campaigns.

The film freely acknowledges Weiner's reprehensible proclivities and although the exact motive for those behaviors aren't explicitly explored they are directly addressed and Weiner comes across contrite, embarrassed, and somewhat baffled by his own behavior. The real power and interest in the film is the full view we get of Weiner, his wife Huma, the doomed promise of the campaign, and of Weiner's wasted potential as an effective democrat.

Never excusing his behavior the film provides context, never shirking Weiner's ultimate responsibility, the film does elucidate the medias role in escalating and doggedly hammering the scandal. We see interviews where Weiner repeatedly apologizes, he addresses the scandal in almost every public appearance, but when he then attempts to move on to a discussion of the issues he is prevented by journalists constant reiteration and repetition of the scandal. The film also takes an unwavering look at how it effects his family and his staff. It's shocking at times how direct and personal the people are being, surprisingly that these both politically and emotionally sensitive moments were allowed to be recorded.

What emerges is not redemption but a full picture of an unfortunate circumstance. The film shows the people involved as three-dimensional humans, provides context and depth to a situation reduced to a salacious one-liner.

Funny and fascinating, the best campaign documentary since The War Room.

See It.