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I.O.U.S.A. (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:57
Fresh:51
Rotten:6
Average Rating:7.2/10
Consensus: A potent and lithely constructed documentary about America's financial crisis, I.O.U.S.A grabs you with figures but holds you with irreverent wit.
Theatrical Release:Aug 22, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $634,829
Synopsis: Wake up, America! We’re on the brink of a financial meltdown. I.O.U.S.A. boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens. As the Baby... Wake up, America! We’re on the brink of a financial meltdown. I.O.U.S.A. boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens. As the Baby Boomer generation prepares to retire, will there even be any Social Security benefits left to collect? Burdened with an ever-expanding government and military, increased international competition, overextended entitlement programs, and debts to foreign countries that are becoming impossible to honor, America must mend its spendthrift ways or face an economic disaster of epic proportions. Throughout history, the American government has found it nearly impossible to spend only what has been raised through taxes. Wielding candid interviews with both average American taxpayers and government officials, Sundance veteran Patrick Creadon (Wordplay) helps demystify the nation’s financial practices and policies. The film follows U.S. Comptroller General David Walker as he crisscrosses the country explaining America’s unsustainable fiscal policies to its citizens. With surgical precision, Creadon interweaves archival footage and economic data to paint a vivid and alarming profile of America’s current economic situation. The ultimate power of I.O.U.S.A. is that the film moves beyond doomsday rhetoric to proffer potential financial scenarios and propose solutions about how we can recreate a fiscally sound nation for future generations. Pointedly topical and consummately nonpartisan, I.O.U.S.A. drives home the message that the only time for America’s financial future is now. --© Sundance Film Festival [More]
Starring: David Walker, William Bonner, Warren Buffett, Ron Paul
Starring: David Walker, William Bonner, Warren Buffett, Ron Paul, Alan Greenspan
Director: Patrick Creadon
Director: Patrick Creadon
Screenwriter: Patrick Creadon, Christine O'Malley, Addison Wiggin
Producer: Christine O'Malley, Sarah Gibson
Composer: Peter Golub
Studio: Roadside Attractions
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Release:
Apr 7, 2009
Reviews for I.O.U.S.A.
Think of this important documentary as Economics 101, a primer on how America and Americans spend, and what hardships the future holds for us unless we change the pattern and our habits quickly.
For a film starring the national debt, this is a good one. The expected tedious numerical research is accompanied by excellent graphics and archival footage that bring it alive. Is anyone listening?
Practically begs audiences to declaim it essential viewing, rather than quietly convincing us
I.O.U.S.A manages to keep this dense, dry information dynamic enough to be interesting and terrifying enough to be important.
If you believe the terrifying documentary I.O.U.S.A., America is headed for a financial crisis of monumental proportions - and apparently, we are probably too late to keep it from happening.
Its aim is to raise awareness of an impending financial disaster if America continues acting fiscally and morally irresponsible.
[A] timely documentary...There is a sense of urgency that propels Creadon's cautionary narrative as an alarming wake-up call to financial discipline.
Creadon avoids turning his film into a partisan slugfest, instead opting to focus on how our country as a whole must come together.
This solid doc reminds us how unsustainable the current American economy is.
Unexpectedly entertaining, given that it’s about dodgy accounting on an epic scale, the film predicts an economic cold shower that is about to douse America’s prospects, thanks to its ever-expanding national debt.
Patrick Creadon's film is a lucid history lesson in the failures of successive Republican presidents to put a stopper in the country's leaking fiscal hole.
It makes a very good effort at trying to cover this enormous, important, complex issue of the national debt in less than an hour and a half.
Although the movie is unabashedly alarming, it's also intelligent fun.
as essential viewing as any common sense advice you've received from parents/grandparents about living within your means
An informative and frightening documentary about America's inability to pay as it goes and the looming consequences of this shortsightedness.
Latest News for I.O.U.S.A.
January 08, 2009:
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November 19, 2008:
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November 14, 2008:
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August 20, 2008:
Documentary explains America's financial crisis in layman's terms. ![]()
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