Freakonomics (2010)
Average Rating: 6/10
Reviews Counted: 62
Fresh: 40 | Rotten: 22
More disjointed and less compelling than the book it's based on, Freakonomics isn't quite as entertaining or educational as it should be.
Average Rating: 5.7/10
Critic Reviews: 14
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 5
More disjointed and less compelling than the book it's based on, Freakonomics isn't quite as entertaining or educational as it should be.
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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 5,359
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Movie Info
FREAKONOMICS is the highly anticipated film version of the phenomenally bestselling book about incentives-based thinking by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. Like the book, the film examines human behavior with provocative and sometimes hilarious case studies, bringing together a dream team of filmmakers responsible for some of the most acclaimed and entertaining documentaries in recent years: Academy Award (R) winner Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Casino Jack and the United
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Freakonomics Trailer & Photos
All Critics (63) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (40) | Rotten (22) | DVD (1)
Freakonomics is, much like the book that spawned it, a breezy entertainment that leaves you with a lot to think about.
Top CriticWhen this freakumentary hooks up with Urail King, it gets an A.
The film is provocative but also scattershot and not nearly as conclusive as it pretends to be.
Some parts of the movie are more satisfying and intriguing than others, but there are enough surprising and non-intuitive revelations that even the most jaded viewer will likely learn a thing or two.
The movie version of Freakonomics functions as a reasonably effective trailer, but for a book whose moment has already passed.
Amiably passes the time.
The limited time given to each of the short films means that there is little opportunity to get really down and dirty with the number-crunching, so that for every aspect that is fascinating there is an attendant frustration.
A lighthearted plea to the audience to try to think outside the box when it comes to matters of causality.
A real hodgepodge of ideas and themes, directed by six different directors, it lacks cohesion. It does, however, have some interesting segments.
Moderately interesting documentary.
Freasonable.
Levitt and Dubner often talk about the importance of giving incentives to customers. It's not clear if this film gives quite enough of them to those people who've already bought the book.
Merely proves that a batch of bite-sized featurettes does not automatically add up to a satisfying meal.
...an enjoyable, lightweight affair that plays like the pilot for a premium cable series - something like a less raucous version of the Penn & Teller's Showtime series
... somewhere between ... an illustrated, freshman-level lecture by a superstar professor and ... a brainy but popular television anthology show.
On this take from a statistician whose days are, um, numbered: the docu-omnibus engages, as we wonder what the next filmmaker might do. Proving Levitt's theory that incentives do indeed matter.
If you didn't read the book, you can get a less-satisfying version of it here, but you'd be better off hitting the book. And if you did read the book, the movie is superfluous.
The film makes some potentially dull material come to life, but it's a tad pleased with itself for delivering that small gift.
It's intellectual snack food, satisfying for a little while but always leaving you hungry for more.
This 93-minute collection of short films finds an innovative way to pursue trivial data. It makes the often vague and elusive subject of economics interesting. It should encourage more viewers to read the book.
Blame producer Chad Troutwine for bringing together an array of talented documentary filmmakers to try to coax life into material certainly not suited to the medium of film.
An unusual cinematic experiment that comes off as a hit-and-miss collection of appetizers.
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