I love a good documentary, and this is certainly that. This profiles puzzler Will Shortz, fans of the New York Times crossword puzzle (including President Bill Clinton, The Indigo Girls, and Jon Stewart), and follows Shortz' national crossword competition and five of the contestants in that competition in 2005. The competition drives a thrilling plot, the competitors are all smart and witty and decent human beings, fair and gracious with each other despite wanting to win, and there is a lot of humor and intellectual stimulation here, and I learned a bit about constructing crossword puzzles, which I've tried to do and failed at before, but now I know a couple tricks and may try again. I liked this tremendously, though I am willing to guess that people who don't love puzzles and games might not like it as much as I did. A+

Being someone who has enjoyed figuring out crossword puzzles here and there over the last 20 years, I was enthused about watching this documentary and wondered if it would renew the passion I used to have for doing these puzzles. Yes, it did, so kudos to the documentary to make it interesting enough.Is it enough to hold the interest of a non-crossword player? I doubt it. If the puzzles aren't fun to you, I doubt this movie would be entertaining, either.The film is in two parts: a look at "celebrities" who play, and some of their comments and to the man who puts together the daily New York Times puzzle. The second part - the largest segment - is devoted to USA Crossword Championships held in each in Stamford, Conn. We see the top players profiled and then are witness to the 200- tournament with it's dramatic 3-person playoff finals.The first part is simply an unabashed Liberal love-fest with big plugs for the Times and NPR, and the celebs are all big Liberals, from Bill Clinton to Jon Stewart to Ken Burns, the Indigo Girls, etc. If one can ignore the obvious political bias, it's still interesting. Then, we get profiles of the top players, from the young prodigy who first entered the tournament at 16 and is one of the favorites to win at 20; the veteran who always is in the finals but never can do better than third; to the gay guy who is seen at home playing pinball with his roommate. They kiss each other on the lips. What was the purpose of inserting that in the movie? What did that have to do with the story? Nothing, obviously, and it wasn't necessary but when have Liberal filmmakers ever exercised good judgment? Also profiled is an interesting woman who won this tournament once but hasn't been close since. Then, we have others such as a guy who plays a guitar and sings and another who is extremely introverted, on and on. Many of them fun to watch. Many of them are amazing crossword talents who can zip off thee answers to a fairly tough one in just a few minutes.Although not hard to predict given their "past performances," the finale was still dramatic and interesting to watch.Overall: puzzle devotees - highly recommended; non-players: not recommended.

I have half-heartedly tried the New York crossword puzzles on occasion but had no idea what a devout following they had until I watched this refreshing 2006 documentary. Structured a bit like 2002's "Spellbound", the entertaining film that builds toward the 1999 Scripps National Spelling Bee, first-time director Patrick Creadon uses the 2005 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament as his climactic event where a group of nimble-minded crossword solvers vie for the championship. However, Creadon wisely focuses much of the film's initial attention on Will Shortz, the crossword puzzle editor for The New York Times who has gained renown as NPR's Puzzle Master. At his post since 1993, he has dramatically transformed the puzzle from an often frustrating, intellectualized exercise full of obscure clues to a more broad-based challenge that embraced popular culture and word games.The change has engendered a diverse number of celebrity fans, several interviewed here in entertaining snippets - a particularly caustic Jon Stewart, Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina, the Indigo Girls, filmmaker Ken Burns in a somewhat zen-like state, a wry Bob Dole, and Creadon's biggest get, an ingratiating Bill Clinton who conquers his puzzle with surprising zeal. Once the film turns its attention toward the tournament, the personalities of the top contenders are highlighted with the makings of a classic showdown among three-time champion and professional puzzle-maker Trip Payne; Al Sanders, the middle-aged perennial also-ran who can never seem to rank above third; and prodigious twenty-year old Tyler Hinman, the potential usurper who could become the youngest champion ever. One of my favorites is Ellen Ripstein, an unassuming statistician who twirls a baton, but the true unsung hero of the piece has to be frequent Times puzzle creator Merl Reagle.Delving into the crossword puzzles themselves, the most interesting extra with the 2006 DVD is a featurette called "Five Unforgettable Puzzles" about how the five of the most challenging Times puzzles were constructed as recounted by the creators themselves. Naturally, the puzzles are included in the accompanying booklet as well as the DVD-ROM for printing. The DVD also includes an amiable and insightful commentary track by Creadon, Shortz and Reagle, as well as a bevy of deleted scenes, including extended versions of the celebrity interviews. There is a twenty-minute short about the film's reception at the 2006 Sundance Festival, including a Q&A with the top contenders, as well as a music video. It's a robust package for a niche-oriented film but one that is more entertaining than it has any right to be.

The commercial success of documentaries in recent years has led to a spate of money moving into various projects that would have never been seen in theaters five years ago. This rash has lead to many films that approach the method as novice polemicists that have little understanding of the documentary form. The presentations tend to feel more like textbooks than works of art ('Enron, the Smartest Guys in the Room', 'Outfoxed').The best documentaries are those with oblique presentations of a world you may know little about. The goal is often to leave you illuminated, the best leave you inspired. Quality documentaries work either from the inside out or the outside in. The first type presents some source whose story offers up a world or view of a world that we never had the privilege to see before. The second category presents glimpses of various views of a subject and alters these viewpoints as it moves toward illuminating the topic. 'The Fog of War' and 'A Brief History of Time' are marvelous examples of inside out presentations. 'Harlan County, USA' and 'Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control' are amazing outside in story lines.'Wordplay' is the best documentary I have seen since 'The Fog of War' and this came as a complete surprise. I expected a textbook presentation by a puzzle obsessor about those like him and their inspiration. I got a wondrous, understandable exploration of a world I knew little about from a guy whose major claim to fame to date was filming hot Maxim babes.The film is an outside in presentation of the crossword world using four views from the edge. There is the history of the form that centers on its development by the NY Times and the paper's first and current Crossword Editors. Then you have the constructors, the guys who weave these puzzles into shape, the philosophers of the art. You see a view from the fans, the best of which are Ken Burns, Bill Clinton, the Indigo Girls, Jon Stewart, and Mike Mussina. And there are the fanatics, the pastiche of intellectual weirdos who make a science out of it and participate annually in the World Championship.The film crisscrosses the edges of these oblique views toward a center of what could have been a pedestrian presentation of the 2005 championship. The director actually turns this into a meditation on the zing one gets from successfully doing puzzles while allowing you to take sides with one or more of the fanatics. I found myself utterly mesmerized by this, feeling exhilaration, disappointment, inspiration, appreciation, and most importantly, respect for this cast of zanies. The net effect of this experience was a huge smile that I felt on my face as the adventure wound down. The energy of this comes from the amazing use of juggling split screens that I won't even attempt to explain. Just see it.And I haven't tried to do a crossword puzzle in years.I certainly hope this guy has graduated to a new level of film-making and is given whatever he needs for future projects. I am so honored to have been introduced to him in this way rather than in a titillating Maxim video.Not that there is anything wrong with ….