Freakonomics: The Movie

An all-star group of documentary filmmakers come together to adapt sections of economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen Dubner’s bestseller Freakonomics, and the result is as ragged and atonal as the worst all-star jam bands. Although the authors appear numerous times to smugly insist on the infallibility of their data analysis, Freakonomics: The Movie is too disjointed to make an illuminating or coherent statement about anything. Morgan Spurlock contributes “A Roshanda by Any Other Name,” a weak analysis of the connections between race, baby names and socioeconomic potential. Taxi to the Dark Side director Alex Gibney explores cheating in the world of sumo wrestling in “Pure Corruption,” which is well-shot but glib and pointless. Worst is Why We Fight director Eugene Jarecki’s take on the authors’ most controversial argument: that legalized abortions lead to decreased crime, a sensitive subject apparently best conveyed through cutesy animation.