King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Awesome

Sometimes, when I recommend something, I like to downplay it a bit, as I know firsthand that if something gets overhyped, it loses a little bit of its luster (case in point: The Hangover is a very funny movie. But the funniest movie of the decade? The defining movie of our generation? C'mon, let's be serious here.) But sometimes I just gotta say fuck it- This. Is. AWESOME.

Schneweis happened to be driving though Lawrence at the same time that Kos and Chelsey were visiting earlier this week, so we peeled our hungover asses out of bed and met the Schneweis brothers and the Leedahl family out for breakfast. Not many good things came as a result from that breakfast (I failed to finish over 50% of a meal for the first time since 1988, when my mom forced me to eat au gratin potatoes and I puked all over my plate) but there was one silver lining, at least- an endorsement from the Schneweis bros of the documentary King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters.

After only 20 seconds of hearing about it, I was in. Anytime the phrases "video games", "guy named Steve Sanders", "best movie villain since Darth Vader", and "so ridiculous you couldn't make these characters up" are used together to describe one movie....you don't need to twist my arm any further. Immediately after breakfast, I was sold. If I would've been on ebay at the time, I would have been pressing the 'commit to buy' button. Repeatedly.

A search of the DVD selections around town proved to be unsuccessful, as apparently documentaries about 1980's arcade games are a bit obscure. We were able to rent it, however, and Alex and I watched it later that night. It was, simply put, one of the most fascinating movies I've ever seen.

Now here's where it gets tricky. While I'd like to tell you as little as possible, so as not to ruin the events of the movie, I feel like you should, at the very least, be aware of Billy Mitchell. This is the guy who set a bunch of records and "peaked" in the 1980's. He's like the bad guy from The Karate Kid, Roadhouse, and Total Recall all rolled into guy. He has a loyal army of minions (that Schne and I agree might as well be wearing Stormtrooper suits) that help to keep his records intact. I won't spoil too much of the essence of Billy Mitchell, but he's the kind of guy who can say with a straight face: "It's like I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't. No matter what I say, it draws controversey. I'm kinda like the abortion issue."



In case you were wondering- no, this is not a picture of Billy Mitchell from 1982. This is, in fact, a present-day photo. Apparently the 80's were so good to Billy, he decided to just stay there.


The story, in a nutshell, is about a relative newcomer to the professional video game scene, trying to set a record in the arcade game Donkey Kong, running up against Mitchell's Evil Empire. I can't remember the last time I'd been so emotionally invested in a movie (probably the most recent Star Wars) and I don't think I'd seen Alex so fired up since Dr. McSteamy slept with Dr. McDreamy's wife, or some such rubbish like that. (As an added bonus, after Alex watched this documentary, suddenly my video game habits weren't quite so ridiculous after all.) After awhile, this movie isn't even about video games anymore. It's about Good vs. Evil. The Bully vs. The Underdog. Not letting the terrorists win. Everything you can ask for in a cinematic adventure. And it's even better because it's true.

So that's about all the pimping I can do, short of changing my name to Pepper Jack, throwing on a suit and matching fedora, and walking the streets smacking around my top dollar hos. Here is the trailer for King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters. If you can't get on board after that, then I've got nothing left to say.


But don't take my word for it!