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Movies / On DVD / I.O.U.S.A.
I.O.U.S.A.

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I.O.U.S.A. (2008)

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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.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 85 mins

Genre: Education/General Interest

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

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • America is 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. 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.
  • Source: PBS Video
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    Reviews for I.O.U.S.A.

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    Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
    01/14/10
    Matthew Turner
    Matthew Turner
    ViewLondon

    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.

    Full Review Source: About.com | comment Comment
    06/27/09
    Jennifer Merin
    Jennifer Merin
    About.com

    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?

    Full Review Source: Monsters and Critics | comment Comment
    02/23/09
    Ron Wilkinson
    Ron Wilkinson
    Monsters and Critics

    Practically begs audiences to declaim it essential viewing, rather than quietly convincing us

    Full Review Source: Movie Habit | comment Comment
    02/22/09
    Marty Mapes
    Marty Mapes
    Movie Habit

    Fending off the global repo man

    Full Review Source: JWR | comment Comment
    02/05/09
    S. James Wegg
    S. James Wegg
    JWR

    I.O.U.S.A manages to keep this dense, dry information dynamic enough to be interesting and terrifying enough to be important.

    Full Review Source: Cinerina | comment Comment
    12/17/08
    Karina Montgomery
    Karina Montgomery
    Cinerina

    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.

    Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
    12/07/08
    Bill Gibron
    Bill Gibron
    PopMatters

    Its aim is to raise awareness of an impending financial disaster if America continues acting fiscally and morally irresponsible.

    Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
    11/20/08
    Dennis Schwartz
    Dennis Schwartz
    Ozus' World Movie Reviews

    [A] timely documentary...There is a sense of urgency that propels Creadon's cautionary narrative as an alarming wake-up call to financial discipline.

    Full Review Source: Movie Eye | comment Comment
    11/20/08
    Frank Ochieng
    Frank Ochieng
    Movie Eye

    Creadon avoids turning his film into a partisan slugfest, instead opting to focus on how our country as a whole must come together.

    Full Review Source: Film and Felt | comment Comment
    11/17/08
    Gabe Leibowitz
    Gabe Leibowitz
    Film and Felt

    This solid doc reminds us how unsustainable the current American economy is.

    Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
    11/14/08
    Dave Calhoun
    Dave Calhoun
    Time Out

    A film with an urgent message that uses the medium to its advantage.

    Full Review Source: Film4 | comment Comment
    11/14/08
    Holly Grigg-Spall
    Holly Grigg-Spall
    Film4

    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.

    Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
    11/14/08
    Wendy Ide
    Wendy Ide
    Times [UK]

    This movie is a scary, exhilarating blast of atheist common sense.

    Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
    11/14/08
    Peter Bradshaw
    Peter Bradshaw
    Guardian [UK]

    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.

    Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
    11/14/08
    Tim Robey
    Tim Robey
    Daily Telegraph

    Chastening, compelling.

    Full Review Source: Financial Times | comment Comment
    11/14/08
    Nigel Andrews
    Nigel Andrews
    Financial Times

    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.

    Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | comment Comment
    11/13/08
    Robert Roten
    Robert Roten
    Laramie Movie Scope

    Although the movie is unabashedly alarming, it's also intelligent fun.

    Full Review Source: Baltimore Sun | comment Comment
    11/07/08
    Michael Sragow
    Michael Sragow
    Baltimore Sun

    as essential viewing as any common sense advice you've received from parents/grandparents about living within your means

    Full Review Source: Old School Reviews | comment Comment
    11/01/08
    John A. Nesbit
    John A. Nesbit
    Old School Reviews

    An informative and frightening documentary about America's inability to pay as it goes and the looming consequences of this shortsightedness.

    Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
    10/31/08
    Marc Mohan
    Marc Mohan
    Oregonian
     
     
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