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10/06/07
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Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders (2007)
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Reviews Counted:48
Fresh:42
Rotten:6
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: Maxed Out's presentation of startling facts and candid interviews put a human face on the issue of debt and financial insecurity.
Theatrical Release:Mar 9, 2007 Limited
Synopsis: Author and filmmaker James D. Scurlock takes on the powerful financial industry in an insightful and infuriating documentary about credit card debt in America. As he crisscrosses the United States,... [More]
Director: James D. Scurlock
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Reviews for Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of...
Maxed Out is more ambitious than Morgan Spurlock's egotistical Super Size Me, but its also more scatterbrained.
02/09/07
[A] well-meaning but scattershot documentary.
03/09/07
All the film provides is this bulletin: Lefties are angry about the things Lefties are angry about, chiefly corporate profits.
03/09/07
Top CriticA slapdash piece of work totally indebted to second-hand rhetorical strategies (the '50s educational film, glib Bush-bashing) and threadbare indignation.
03/06/07
While the documentary does a credible job of pointing out the magnitude of the problem, it skirts the issue of what can be done about it and by whom.
03/09/07
Top CriticMaxed Out focuses on how much we're in hock without ever really wondering why we need to buy.
10/06/07
Has some sweet touches that make its very bitter medicine a little more palatable: humorously ironic educational film snips and some brutally honest interview subjects. Still, it's hard to watch it and not walk out angry at someone.
03/08/07
Given that James D. Scurlock's documentary Maxed Out is a resolutely uncinematic progression of talking heads -- and they're talking about a subject most of us would rather not even think about -- it's a remarkably entertaining film.
03/06/07
Top CriticJames Scurlock’s Maxed Out takes a long-overdue swipe at the shamelessly predatory tactics of the credit-card and home-mortgage industries, which are feeding on the most economically vulnerable members of our society.
03/07/07
Top CriticA film all high school seniors should see. And their parents. And their siblings, neighbors, best friends and acquaintances. You should see it, too.
03/08/07
To maximize your return on this useful report, sit through the end credits where Spurlock deposits some of his best material.
03/23/07
When it comes to credit, it pays to be informed.
11/04/07
As a film, Maxed Out occasionally loses its way with glib choices (get ready to get tired of the song Money) and odd diversions (a segment with a Realtor begins the movie with a whimper, not a bang). But as a cry of outrage, it's spot-on.
03/15/07
If your outrage glands need a workout, be sure to see Maxed Out, a muckraking, emotionally powerful, wickedly entertaining documentary on the dreary-sounding topic of consumer debt.
03/15/07
Maxed Out is sort of a plastic Super Size Me, where every interviewee knows that this is out of control, yet they feel hopeless and unable to deal.
03/24/06
It's a slapdash affair... yet still winds up with a raw, gritty power.
04/24/07
Oh, the stories Scurlock tells.
03/05/07
Top Criticshines a light on one of the most pervasive (and potentially disastrous) problems affecting our society today
06/17/07
Entertaining and smart, Maxed Out is certainly big-screen worthy
03/09/07
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