Freakonomics (2010)

A collection of documentaries that explores the hidden side of human nature through the use of the science of economics.

Directors:

Heidi Ewing, Alex Gibney

Writers:

Peter Bull, Alex Gibney

Stars:

James Ransone, Morgan Spurlock, Tempestt Bledsoe

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
James Ransone
Morgan Spurlock	...	Himself - Narrator
Tempestt Bledsoe	...	Herself (archive footage)
Bill Gates	...	Himself
Melvin Van Peebles	...	Himself - Narrator (segment "It's Not Always A Wonderful Life")
Greg Crowe	...	Johnny the Mechanic
Zoe Sloane	...	Blake
Alisha Nagarsheth	...	Student
Ngozi Jane Anyanwu	...	Uneek
Rahmel Long	...	Courtroom Audience
John D. Rockefeller	...	Himself
Sarah Croce	...	Yoga Instructor
Lian Amado	...	High School Girl (as Lian Toni Amado)
Dan Chen	...	Bruce-Cubicle Worker
Konishiki	...	Himself

Storyline

The field of economics can study more than the workings of economies or businesses, it can also help explore human behavior in how it reacts to incentives. Economist Steven D. Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubner host an anthology of documentaries that examines how people react to opportunities to gain, wittingly or otherwise. The subjects include the possible role a person's name has for their success in life, why there is so much cheating in an honor bound sport like sumo wrestling, what helped reduce crime in the USA in the 1990s onward and we follow an school experiment to see if cash prizes can encourage struggling students to improve academically.

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Plot Keywords:

economics | human nature | experiment | sumo wrestling | cheating | 

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Taglines:

Six Rogue Filmmakers Explore The Hidden Side Of Everything

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Genres:

Documentary

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for elements of violence, sexuality/nudity, drugs, and brief strong language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 September 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Freakonomics, le film

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$31,893 (USA) (2 October 2010)

Gross:

$100,675 (USA) (26 November 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Chad Troutwine Films, Cold Fusion Media Group, Green Film Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Quotes

Steven Levitt - Author: The closest thing to a worldview, I would say, in "Freakonomics," is that incentives matter. Not just financial incentives, but social incentives and moral incentives.

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Connections

Features The Cosby Show (1984)

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Soundtracks

Ave Maria
Written by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performed by Amy Butler and Mary Jane Newman
Courtesy of X5 Music Group

User Reviews

Entertaining but light on details

This isn't really a documentary. A few of the chapters from the book are presented in this film. The way the issues are presented usually involve first Levitt and Dubner speaking about the issue interspersed with various imagery and animation. Some archival footage is used. Particularly when the topic addresses famous historical events. Each segment will also have actors re-enacting events or acting out original scenes to present the topic visually. There are also other experts or people who call themselves experts (like an "expert" in baby names) talking about the issue. Finally there is some footage of actual people either discussing personal experiences, or in the case of the high school students, the students themselves living their lives. Although even this seems staged at points.

It seems they used a lot of flashy graphics and various forms of presentation to cover up the fact that this film is ultimately Levitt, Dubner and the narrator just talking generally about the issues covered in the book. I'm a fan of the podcast so if this film had just been them talking and nothing else I'd still have liked it. But there is a sense of lacking an opportunity in creating something new on film. All the colorful imagery doesn't bring anything new to the table.

The film doesn't cover the entire book. I haven't read it in years but one of the more important topics to me was about the drug dealers which wasn't in the film.

What I found really lacking, beyond the visual or the missing chapters, is that they didn't really go into detail with anything. They vaguely reference statistics, but hardly show any. They make off handed comments about important concepts that they don't spend any time on. Two of the most important themes of the entire work, causation vs. causality, and the power of incentive are hardly discussed beyond the immediate topic. For example while they note in the film that people often mistake correlation with causation, and that finding cause is very difficult, they don't spend a second actually explaining why cause is difficult to ascertain (except that it isn't immediately apparent). Day one of a social science course is going to identify the difficulty or impossibility of defining cause. Levitt and Dubner do not mention that while statistics and economics in the scope of numbers is natural science, their application in Freakonomics is social science, and all the stats in the world won't necessarily prove cause in social science.